Chop Squad
by The Perilous Monster Eater
Summary: In which the Kyuubi cares about its cage, Sarutobi tries to help with a closed fist, and Naruto learns that in a world where he should be alone and weak, he can be strong... whether Konoha wants him to be or not. Powerful!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

When he was four, he was content. Content to walk hand in hand with the hokage down the city streets, and certainly content to take lunch trips to the local ramen man.

"Hey, hey Hokage-jii!" Uzumaki Naruto tugged on Sarutobi's Hiruzen's coat a few times while pulling his hand out of his gnarled, old ones. "You gotta let me go so I can be a big boy. Big boys don't gotta hold hands."

"Hm." Sarutobi held his chin in silent thought, "Glad to hear you're a big boy. I was going to buy a little boy who's been very good some ramen. But big boys don't get free ramen, you know."

Naruto pouted, and played with his shirt, then his fingers in twisting, winding motions. "Okay… okay maybe I'm not _that_ big."

The Hokage grinned lightly at that, rested his hand on the boy's messy blonde hair.

"I can work with a not-so-big-boy."

The two walked in companionable silence after that.

The world didn't _quite_ make sense, but that was okay. Naruto was okay. It didn't matter that people always stared at him funny or called him funny names, because he was okay… as far as he knew, the world was every bit the way it should have been. It wasn't the best, but it was okay.

"Hey, Naruto-kun! Sarutobi-sama! You two come for some ramen?" The ramen chef Teuchi greeted them both with a wide smile.

"Ramen-jii!" Naruto cheered, breaking away from his older companion to sit at the booth. With some effort, the boy managed to struggle onto a stool, and finally settled in. He huffed, and crossed his hands, "Hi! Uhm... Gimme one small miso ramen, pleas-" He turned back to the Hokage, "May I have one small miso ramen please?"

"Ha! So polite!" Teuchi turned to the hokage with a grin, "Same beef with noodles, hokage-sama?"

The older man smiled, and rested a hand on Naruto's head, "No. I'm just getting Naruto a bowl before I have to be off. Bureaucracy never sleeps, I'm afraid."

Teuchi grinned at that, "Almost makes you wish for a more exciting time, doesn't it?" The older men shared a laugh.

Naruto tilted his head like he'd heard something curious, and turned to look back at the street. And then he laughed lightly, thinking of war and the days when ninja ran in warbands. It _did_ seem more exciting.

Sarutobi glanced at Naruto curiously, then back to Teuchi. "How are you, Teuchi?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Every day gets a little bit easier, you know." He toyed with his apron in silent contemplation, "You know, he would do well being taught as a butcher."

"Oh, for kami's sake, Teuchi." Exasperated, Sarutobi dragged a hand over his face, "We do this every time and my answer is always the same. We needed butchers when we needed to throw genin and civilians at the enemy and scare them off, but to teach a child like _that_ now? It's too much, it's too cruel. He deserves to be taught like the rest and experience _something_ of a normal life."

At first, Naruto had no idea why his grandpa was so angry about a guy that chopped up meat for a living… it was just a whisper… a purr in the back of his mind… and then he understood.

"All due respect, he's not _like_ the rest and he never _will be."_ Teuchi's eyes met Sarutobi's, and his eyes ignited, " _Face it,_ this is the best chance for him. No one here will teach him fairly, and the council is biting at your heels to send him to Danzo. I can train him _while_ keeping his best interests at he-"

The hokage, the greatest ninja in the village slammed his fist down on the counter.

Teuchi flinched.

Naruto didn't. Instead, the boy just tilted his head at him while staring up at his Hokage-jii with big blue eyes.

Sarutobi noticed _that_ as well.

"Teuchi." The old Hokage snapped, " _Old friend,_ I don't doubt that you have his best interests at heart, and I would trust no one else on the matter. But hear me well, I cannot and _will not_ let _his_ son be made into a weapon."

"Bahhh." Teuchi threw his hands into the air and set to chopping vegetables. "There's no talking to you over this, Hokage-sama."

"Hey! I can…-" Naruto halted in his speech suddenly, rolling his eyes and hiding his face in his arms. Idly, he just looked between Teuchi and Sarutobi before sighing, mumbling something that suspiciously sounded like _'I can pick if I wanna.'_

Both men just stared at the child for a long while before Sarutobi rested his hand on Naruto's head. "Consider this discussion closed, Teuchi. Be good Naruto."

Naruto gave a nod while still buried in his arms, mumbling a good bye. With that, the hokage vanished in a flurry of leaves, leaving the pouting boy to his myriad thoughts.

"Hey, ramen-jii," He lifted his head slightly, "I woulda said yes. I wanna learn how'ta fight."

Teuchi froze.

"What… what are you talking about, Naruto-kun?"

"Whatcha mean? Butchers sound cool." His mind was filled with hazy images of frightening visages that haunted the battlefields with hooks and heavy gauntlets for hands; chains instead of arms. They were the terror that kept the superstitious and weak quelled. They were men and women and children trained to have a fighting chance against ninja. Against a nine tailed demon fox though? Not so much.

Teuchi watched as the boy's eyes went blank, huffed, and walked a bowl of ramen over to the boy.

"Yay, thanks!" Naruto chirped, greedily taking the bowl with both hands and hugging it, before grabbing his chopsticks. He started to slurp noisily, only to freeze. The boy cringed in on himself and looked around like he was being scolded, then smiled and nodded.

And then like magic, Teuchi watched as Naruto suddenly learned manners. The boy tried to eat as carefully as possible, still spilling broth, but nowhere near as much as he often did.

Teuchi sighed and settled into a chair, watching Naruto with a dubious eye as the boy devoured his meal. He'd turned out _so_ well mannered for being an orphan.

"Hey..."

Naruto peered up at Teuchi.

"You're a real good kid, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah!" He devoured the compliment as readily as he did his ramen.

"So… Naruto-kun, how'd you know what me and the old man were talking about? I mean, you're smart but..."

The boy perked up, "My friend told me."

For the second time that day, Teuchi froze. Naruto was patting his belly, and he couldn't tell if he'd just finished a delicious meal… or if it was because the boy was referring to the legendary Kitsune no Kyuubi that was sealed there. The same beast that nearly destroyed his wife and child and life. He shook it off quickly, and tried not to think of it.

"Ah… I see."

Naruto's ears perked, "Oh! But you can't tell anyone! It's a secret, okay?"

"It's… a secret that your friend talks to you?" Teuchi responded slowly, dreading every word that came out of the boy's mouth.

Naruto's head tilted, "...Are you okay? You feel…-" Once again, the boy cut himself off, "Oh shoot! I gotta go, Ramen-jii! Thank you for the ramen!" Like always, the little boy ran around the counter to give the ramen chef a quick hug, crashing into his legs before turning away. "Oh, don't forget, it's a secret!"

And with that, Naruto was running off towards the orphanage, leaving a completely dumbfounded Teuchi standing there.

"What in the _nine hells?"_

* * *

By the time Naruto made it back to the orphanage, which wasn't _quite_ cross town but far enough that by the time he spotted the old wooden and gnarled building, the sun was already setting and the matron was standing outside; a tall stern woman that was otherwise unremarkable save for the scowl that was marring her aging face.

" _Uh…_ S-sorry I'm late! I was with hokage-jii and ramen-jii and I-"

When the matron hit Naruto, it was with all the force she could manage. She backhanded the boy with her one good hand, tilting her head up and sneering as she watched him stumble backwards and onto his butt.

"You know better than to be so late." She stated, just above a whisper.

Naruto didn't respond, he simply sat there, nursing his red and bruised cheek, fighting back tears that _really wanted to fall._ He also fought the angry, _red_ emotion bubbling deep inside of his chest.

"S-sorry!" He covered his head with both hands, "It's okay… it's okay… shhh..."

The matron tilted her head. "Brat," she hissed the word out as hatefully as she could. "Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to?" the angry woman snarled, stepping forward drunkenly, and snatching his wrist from his head. Being so close to her, as she had her nails dig into his skin, Naruto would be able to smell the alcohol that wafted from her as she tugged at him. "Just go inside, I can't deal with you right now. Go straight to your room, no dinner. If I see you at all, I'll put you out onto the streets."

That _feeling,_ that angry, burning feeling surged inside of him. Raw, surging rage that tried to push its way to the surface. Its whispers reached his ears, a snarling and vicious voice that begged to be unleashed on that woman.

He couldn't do that. His eyes burned with tears, and he struggled to pull away from the woman. She shook him once and then, with a rough push and a nasty curse she released him from her grasp.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He ran as quickly as he could, hands covering his head, protecting him from anything that she might have been thrown at him on the way to his room. The hallway was mercifully empty and no one caught the way his shadow swelled and bubbled under his feet, threatening to tear away from him. "It's okay! It's _okay_!" He yelled, trying to keep the monster inside quelled.

The boy tore into the room, surprisingly neat for being occupied by a four year old. Naruto slammed the door shut, and immediately threw his hands up and over his face as his shadow pulled out from under him. It manifested, swelling and growing in size until it easily stood the height of the room.

Naruto fell onto his butt, tears still falling from his eyes, his cheek still burning from the impact of the slap… and now a single paw pressed down, and pinned him to the floor.

It spoke in shadows and growls and whispers.

 **Hello, little one.**


	2. Chapter 2

He only came at night, and only when Naruto was supposed to be asleep in his dark, dank room hidden far back in the orphanage where he was not meant to be seen or heard. It was in this room that the world could pretend that he didn't exist. Konoha could go on never thinking about the little monster that lived in the back of everyone's mind.

He always arrived in veiled mist, and was darker than anything Naruto had seen before. Not black, the complete and utter absence of light. His fur was smoke, and nine tails flagged behind him, his body was midnight flames that burned in the night. The only contrast to its twilight body was two bright blue eyes that matched Naruto's effortlessly. Blue like the ocean. Blue like the sky.

The Kyuubi.

And now it had Naruto pinned down against the ground, its muzzle a scant _inch_ away from Naruto's face.

 **She hurt you.**

Naruto opened his mouth, only to release a sob. He tried to cover his face, but the fox was too fast. Too powerful. Too… _concerned._ That was the emotion that burned in Naruto's little chest, raw unadulterated care for him. It was smothering. Suffocating. Warm. Gentle. All at once. He could have drowned in it. Willingly.

The fox didn't try to hide it, either. It nuzzled Naruto gently about the chest, and allowed the small boy to hug its snout as tightly as he could. The fox dropped down onto all fours, watching Naruto intently as the boy bawled harder and harder.

 **I'm sorry you were hurt.**

That only made Naruto cry harder, and as the boy buried himself in the Kyuubi's warmth, he wondered why the Kyuubi being there for him always made him cry more.

 **Because when someone finds another that sympathizes with them, they sometimes cry in relief. You're happy to find someone you can be open with.**

At first, some of those words were new and foreign to him, but it didn't take long for their meanings to snap into place in his head. He gave a shuddering sigh, and his crying petered to an end. Finally, Naruto pushed to his feet while rubbing his eyes.

"You're always so nice to me, Kura-kun." He mumbled as he toddled over to the bed. Idly, the boy continued rubbing his reddened eyes.

 **You showed me a greater kindness first, little one.** The Kyuubi stalked after Naruto, and seeing the boy have some trouble clambering into the too-tall-bed, he snapped the back of the boy's shirt between his teeth, and effortlessly hefted him into the bed.

Despite its dour, wispy voice, it was impossible to hide the way his tails wagged in lazy, but honest affection. Slightly smaller than the room, the Kyuubi leaned down to greet the boy with a slight nuzzle to his chest once again.

"You always say that… I don't remember doing anything." Naruto stared up at the fox's matching eyes without trepidation. He giggled when the Kyuubi gave him a small lick to his cheek then settled back on its haunches.

 **You were younger, and I was very different.** Its tails wagged to and fro, bemused delight rolling off of its frame. **It was as true then as it is now,** **wherever the little one goes…**

"...The fox will follow." Naruto smiled lightly. It wasn't the first time that he'd finished the fox's thoughts, nor did either one seem particularly surprised.

Naruto sighed, and leaned back in his bed. Happy, content, but still a bit bleary eyed, he turned to look at the massive fox.

"Hey. Tell me a story?"

The fox tilted its head, then lowered its gaze so that his snout was just in front of the child. It licked his cheek again with a careful sort of affection, making sure not to drool all over him. Naruto smiled, and hugged his snout again in return.

 **Of course.** Its eyes rolled up in thought, and then it snorted at the thought. A memory that echoed back to a far more violent time. **There once was a boy born into a world of fire.**

"Was it scary?"

 **Immeasurably.** The Kyuubi drawled. At first the boy didn't know the word, but the knowledge just as quickly pierced his mind, and he understood. **The fire was eating everything and everyone, and no one knew what to do. If they didn't stop it, it would destroy everything. Even the fire wanted to stop, but it couldn't.**

"Why couldn't it stop?"

 **Because it was being controlled… the fire was scared, too; scared of being controlled, scared of being trapped, scared of being chained and alone in the dark again.** The Kyuubi smiled, and the boy smiled back. **A person of great power stepped forward, and tried to extinguish the fire, but he couldn't. It burned too hot. It burned too quickly. The fire ate the man's wife. The fire ate the man's friends, and in the end, the fire tried to eat him too.**

Naruto frowned, "Is this a happy story? This seems really sad..."

 **It gets happier, I think.** The boy was quelled with a quick, affectionate nuzzle, **The man reached out and grabbed the fire. The only one of his kind capable of doing so. He grabbed the fire, tore it in half and forced it into the child.**

Still, the child pouted, "Hey, hey, you said this got happier! I guess the guy is strong at least… but why did he tear it in half?"

 **Patience, little one. The fire was trapped again. It'd spent its life trapped inside of different cages, being hated and despised for being caged, and vice versa. No one ever sought to understand the fire, so the fire never sought to understand them. The fire, lonely and lost and embittered… half of what it used to be, buried itself deep inside of the child… but something was different in this cage.** The Kyuubi found itself staring at Naruto's belly, **After a year** t **he child was just as lonely and lost, and had a darkness growing in him.** **T** **his, the child reached out to the fire.**

"Even after everything the fire did?"

The kyuubi smirked. **He was a good child. Far better a cage than the fire deserved.** Naruto smiled, bashful and blushing.

 **Now, the child was gentle, but scared and hurt. The fire was immensely strong, but hated deeply. They made a deal.**

"What kind of deal did they make?"

 **The fire and the child promised to deal with life together, to be each other's strength. The fire and the child reached into each other's souls and pulled them together so that they would never be lonely, and so they would always understand each other. They fit perfectly. The child filled the fire's missing half, and the fire lit the child's darkness. In that moment, they shared everything.**

A fleeting, warm thought echoed through Naruto's mind, and the boy yawned. "...And so they would always have a friend, right?"

The kyuubi laughed lightly. It was a strange, _strange_ thing to feel the love of a human child. But there it was, burning brightly in its chest, weighing nothing and somehow crushing in its demand. Like holding a fragile, but infinitely beautiful flower in one's hand.

He greedily held tight to that particular feeling.

 **So they would always have a friend, little one.**

"Mhhm… g'night Ku-" Naruto yawned loudly, and hugged the Kyuubi's muzzle against his chest. "G'night Kura-kun."

Kurama sighed, and mumbled into the boy's chest.

 **Good night, little one.**

He stayed until the boy fell into a deep sleep, and then sank into the shadows once more.

* * *

The waited until they heard Naruto's breathing slow before they spoke. Just outside of his door, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood alongside Yamanaka Inoichi. Both men stared at the door with deep frowns on their faces.

They'd heard everything, and the story chilled the two men to their bones.

Could Naruto's connection to the demon _really_ run so deep?

"I will seal the demon further. You must wipe every memory relating to it. We cannot allow Naruto-kun to remain in contact with it for any longer than he has been. Not even an iota of the child's mind must remember it." The Sandaime ran a hand through his hair, "There's no telling the damage it did to the child's mind… no telling _how long_ it's been in contact with him… and I never noticed…-"

"Hokage-sama..." Inoichi stood there a moment, collecting his thoughts before voicing them, "You've asked me here today to use a very specific jutsu to erase the mind of a _four_ year old. Are you sure that this is the path you want to take? Perhaps we could take the night to think-"

"Inoichi," Sarutobi snapped, "Anbu reports that a boy Naruto's age in Suna is accidentally killing people and hears the demon's voice in his head. That boy supposedly holds the one tailed demon. Do you _really_ think Konoha would survive the Kyuubi having a similar hold over little Naruto-kun?" He took a deep breath, "Sometimes… sometimes we as ninja must harden our hearts, and prepare to do what we must to protect those we love."

The situation was dire, but Inoichi rested a hand the Sarutobi's shoulder, "Children are resistant. He will recover from this, I promise. This will be a new beginning for Naruto-kun, one where he isn't tormented and lied to by his burden."

Sarutobi took a deep, cleansing breath, and nodded. "Yes, of course. Let us do what needs to be done then."

The two men walked through the door, and closed it behind them.

When the screams finally stopped, Naruto was left alone in bed confused and lost and afraid.

The sense of being incomplete and torn apart never left him, and all that was left was desperation, dissonance and loss.

His world was in turmoil.


	3. Chapter 3

He should have been upset. He didn't know why, but he felt like he should have been upset.

"Right, so is everyone's quiz turned in? Great. I'm going have Mizuki-sensei go through these and correct them, and that'll give you guys a chance to ask a few follow up questions about the Kyuubi."

"Oi, Iruka-sensei," Mizuki pouted, "You're really gonna make me check all these by myself?"

Iruka rolled his eyes, "Of course not Mizuki-sensei, just get started. I want to get through the Q and A before we do that." There was a pause, "and also there'll be less work for me to do when I'm done. First question!" He clapped his hands, catching the class's attention.

There was that name again. Naruto frowned, and for once… for _once_ he found himself quiet and deep in thought. He didn't think it should be called the Kyuubi. That seemed like a really stupid name for the demon fox.

A hand shot up in class.

"Sakura, go."

His thoughts were instantly stilled. Ahh Sakura, she was so beautiful… and brightly colored… and just … uh… her forehead, he just wanted to kiss it.

"So, the monster killed 30% of Konoha's ninja force and 10% of its civilian core, how long did that affect the village?"

Annnnd the warm feelings were gone, replaced with a cold and irritated irritation, the feeling of cold steel and cramped space, heavy chains pinning him to the floor… Naruto shuddered, shaking the foreign feelings off and trying to focus on what his crush was saying. Not that he could. He mind was a ping pong ball, and the lesson was the paddle.

"Good observation, Sakura-chan." Iruka started, grinning slightly as the pinkette preened under his slight praise, "Even ten years later, Konoha is still recovering from the Kyuubi's attack, but we've managed to remain more effective than the other Hidden Villages by a pretty high margin."

Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes Naruto-kun?"

"So… like… what was its name?"

Some of the students snickered. Iruka simply shook his head in fond exasperation of the boy.

"Weren't you paying attention at all, Naruto-kun?" More students laughed, a bit louder this time.

Mizuki snorted from where he sat, never once looking up from his papers. "Of course he wasn't," He said dryly, "This is Uzumaki Naruto we're talking about here."

The diminutive blonde clenched his fists and grit his teeth, "That… that ain't what I was askin'! I was just-" The words didn't come fast enough out of his mouth, he didn't _think_ fast enough, leaving the boy a sputtering mess. He didn't even know why such a stupid question would cross his mind.

Iruka stopped him with a hand, "It was called Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox. Now, does anyone else have any questions?"

Sakura's hand shot up again.

 **...never shuts up...**

"That's not what I meant!" Naruto snapped, his anger filling the classroom. It clouded him. Made him see red. Stuck here, silent staring alone and _trapped_ waiting for nothing _day after day after day_ and all he could see was his other half floundering and twisting and failing trying to find... "S _hut up!"_ The words were out before he realized what he'd said. The foreign, bizarre anger left him in that moment, and he found himself standing in a silent classroom, everyone staring at him like he'd grown a second head. "Uh… that's not..."

Iruka rolled his eyes, "Naruto. Out. If you can't be civil, then go be silent. I'll talk to you after class."

"Uh… right. S-Sorry Sakura-chan, I mean… I wasn't yelling at you."

"So you're stupid _and_ crazy?" Ino bit out. Sakura and Ino laughed loudest among their classmates as Naruto wandered out of the room.

* * *

"Naruto you _have_ to control yourself when you're in my class. You can't just run around screaming at people." Iruka sighed, and sat down next to Naruto. He and the boy found themselves in the hallway of the academy, backs against the wall as the rest of the class filtered out of the room. For the most part they ignored the two, save for Sakura's and Ino's continuous jibing.

"Look, Naruto-kun."

The blonde, arms wrapped around his knees and staring against the opposing wall never looked over at Iruka.

"I'll be frank, and I don't want you to be mad, okay? You have the worst scores in this class. The _worst._ Your chakra signature is all over the place, you're always screaming at other people and when you're not doing that, you're doing stupid pranks..."

Naruto huffed into his arms.

"We _can't_ keep doing this. Especially when this is the last year, the _last_ chance for you to graduate. And I'm not gonna pass you if you're not ready, you know that, right? Better you be stuck here than dead out there on some mission, you get that, right?"

"I heard it again."

Iruka cringed a hint, but never betrayed his calm countenance. It wouldn't do Naruto any good if he caught his teacher acting as scared as everyone else did. He rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I know it's hard. Tell you what, lets get you some ramen, huh? Take your mind off things?"

The boy stopped hiding his face to look up at Iruka. "Yeah? Y'mean it?"

Nothing demonic, just the eyes of a frightened child with too much on his plate. Iruka sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, come on."

* * *

When you walk into your office and find Shimura Danzou sitting across from your desk, you know you're in for nothing but bad news. When you find him sitting in your office looking pensive and looking more unhappy than usual, that's how you knew something had gone very, very wrong.

Sarutobi found himself looking at the latter scene. An old, crippled warhawk staring out into the village… probably seeing a different time. A time when ninjas were ninjas, not glorified mercenaries.

He sighed.

"Well, the village isn't on fire and I haven't received ill reports of your men in Ame, so I assume whatever's happened isn't immediately malignant."

Danzou said nothing.

"I'm going to have tea. Do you want tea?"

"I would like some tea, yes."

His voice was gravel paved by war, and his gaze today was not so hawkish. Instead, Danzou seemed more contemplative as he stared out the window at the village, only stirring when Sarutobi set a teacup in front of the man. He took the small porcelain cup and sipped at the steaming hot beverage.

It was perfect.

"The council is pushing for me to take Naruto and train him as a weapon."

Sarutobi's expression froze. "Come to gloat then, old friend?"

A spiteful exhale was Danzou's only answer, "I do not want him. The time for training the boy as a weapon is long past, now." He took another sip, and finally looked up at Sarutobi. His old friend, his rival.

Ah… there was that hawkish gaze.

"You don't want the boy holding the Kyuubi?" His eyes turned frigid, "What's your game, hawk?"

"Sarutobi, have you seen his progress in the academy? Have you read the reports? Not by those idiot bigots that run the academy, but the _actual_ reports." Barely taking a breath, Danzou set the teacup down and withdrew a sheaf of papers from inside his robe, "He's consistently testing at the level of a first level academy student across the board. Declared the weakest at taijutsu, and unable to keep up in any basic combat forms. Every prediction for what latent talent he might have has been dashed in lieu of undesirable personality traits and physical inferiority. The only thing he seems to excel at is his high chakra reserves. And now we have recent reports of instability _and_ hearing a _voice_ whisper in his mind."

Danzou leveled a look at Sarutobi.

"Even with the Kyuubi locked under the yondaime's and your seals, it still speaks to him. The boy is brittle… fragile… and he would be broken under me." Danzou frowned, "We have tried it your way, Sarutobi, and the results are not good. The results are… wasteful."

The older man stared at Danzou for a long while, watching as he went back to sipping his tea. Disappointment in ill reports was of the norm, but to outright disavow the child? Unexpected.

"Recommendation?" Sarutobi asked, settling his cup on the desk once again.

"See if Teuchi the Butcher can salvage the boy. If that does not work, reseal the demon in someone else and start again."

The room's temperature dropped under Sarutobi's glare.

"You asked, and I answered, Hokage-sama. He isn't _just_ a child, and should not have been treated as such. He was bright and talented. Now that that has been squandered, he must be molded into a shape that is useful to the village."

Danzou groaned as he forced himself to his feet. Old joints creaked as he rested heavy on his cane.

"I will speak to Teuchi." Sarutobi stated, watching Danzou hobble out of the room. "...So, by the next quarterly report to the daimyo, then?"

The warhawk stopped, a small smile crossing his face, "You know how it goes. The nobles will want to see a show… the council will want to see a leashed demon. Me? I will settle for not having to reseal a demon inside the village. Best shot at keeping him alive is having him ready by the Chunnin exams."

Danzou vanished out of the door, and Sarutobi slumped into his seat.

"For all of this to come down to Teuchi… tch… what a mess."

* * *

"Hey! Hey old man! Your future hokage is here!" To his credit, Naruto tried not to sound _too_ distressed, but Teuchi could hear it clear as day. It helped that the boy's voice was pitchier than a baby bird.

Teuchi raised an eyebrow at the future hokage. It'd been four years since that polite but energetic child arrived in his shop, and in his place was a child that had grown in body, but seemingly regressed in mind. He didn't need a specialized report to see that time in the village without a teacher hadn't served him particularly well.

Disappointment, thy name is Teuchi.

"I hear you fine boy, I hear you fine. You still want miso ramen, that right Naruto-kun? What about you, Iruka-kun? Maybe some beef?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Iruka smirked and rested his hand on Naruto's head. "Kid just had a hard time in class, so I decided to get him some ramen."

Teuchi sighed. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Lemme get started on your orders."

"He's always so _grumpy."_ Naruto mumbled, kicking his feet as he waited. "You think its cuz he hates me like everyone else?"

The academy teacher laughed at that. "Naruto-kun, some people are just grumpy, and that's just how it is."

"Yes, unfortunately a lot of people my age don't deal well with the exuberance of youth." The hokage walked up to the stand, a single innocuous scroll resting in his arms. "Iruka-kun, I trust you are taking care of Naruto-kun?"

Iruka balked at the sudden appearance of the Hokage. "Ah! Hokage-sama, it's good to see you again." He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves… long enough for Naruto to spin in his chair and assault the old Sarutobi with his voice.

"Hey! Hey old man!"

"Ahh, hello Naruto-kun, are you dealing well in class?"

"Ah… uh… heh, future hokage! Right here!"

Without missing a beat, Sarutobi rested a hand on Naruto's head, giving him a small smile. "Glad to hear it." He couldn't quite keep himself from grimacing as Danzou's report came to mind. "Teach him well, Iruka-kun."

"Er... yes, Hokage-sama."

For a moment, the mood in the ramen shop soured. Sarutobi found himself facing the impending death of the child of a hero, Iruka was facing the impending failure of his favorite student, and Naruto… Naruto hadn't quite picked up on things yet.

"Orders up!" Teuchi walked out of the back of the shop wielding two bowls, and froze at the sight of the hokage holding a scroll.

"Yeah, ramen!" Naruto cheered.

"Yeah..." Teuchi muttered as he ambled towards the serving area, placing the bowls in front of Iruka and Naruto while staring dead at the scroll in Sarutobi's hands the whole time. "What's that supposed to be?"

Sarutobi set the scroll on the table, "It's a writ of authorization to reintroduce the butchers into the ninja force."

The ramen chef offered a flat stare, and for a moment, the ramen shack was filled with nothing but the noise of a boy slurping ramen. Even Iruka had placed his chop sticks down in silent contemplation.

The butchers were not nice people.

Teuchi sucked on his teeth in contemplation, "Why."

"HEY OLD MAN THIS IS REALLY GOOD!"

Teuchi's eyes narrowed on Sarutobi. "That's good, Naruto." It didn't take him long to put two and two together, "What, _now_ you want me to train him? I may not have access to the reports, but I got ears, Sarutobi. Things aren't going well, are they?"

Sarutobi frowned deeply, "I'd like to discuss this with you privately."

"Heh. Why?" Teuchi couldn't _quite_ help the spiteful laugh that escaped his mouth, "Not like he's payin' attention. Hasn't _really_ been the same since all those years ago, you know?" The old ramen chef outright scowled. "Ain't like he knows what's goin' on any more."

As if to punctuate his point, Naruto slurped more ramen from his bowl, oblivious to the way Teuchi and Sarutobi were heatedly talking and the way Iruka was listening to the two men very carefully. Instead, Naruto noisily tried to say something with his mouth full, only to shrug when no one responded.

Sarutobi _scoffed,_ and strode past the sitting area. "You're insufferable, Teuchi. Come."

"Tch, you old bat. Shop's closed, boys." Teuchi flipped the "Open" sign to "Close", and gave a wave. "See yourselves out."

It wasn't until he vanished into the back that Naruto finished his ramen, and found himself alone with concerned looking Iruka.

"Ehh? Where'd everyone go? I'm still hungry!"

Iruka scratched the back of his head, "Eh… I think he closed up for the day, Naruto-kun."

"Ehhh!?"

* * *

The two walked back to the cramped kitchen, and down a nearby set of stairs. It led them to another narrow ramshackle hallway that creaked and groaned under their combined weight, down to the basement of the ramen shack. Hooks and butcher knives and chains hung from the slatted metal walls, all stained black and rusty from use and disuse alike. Only a single table and two chairs, one upended, littered the ground.

"You still haven't cleaned up this place..." Sarutobi wrinkled his nose in distaste, "Still smells like blood and dirt down here, Teuchi."

"You kill people, things tend to get a little dirty." Teuchi walked to the table and groaned as flipped up the second chair. "A proper throne for the Hokage." He said with a flourish, before finally sitting down and resting his elbows on his knees.

Once again, the Hokage found himself being glared at. Danzou always felt the need to stay in control of his emotions, as per the shinobi guiding rules. Teuchi? Well… Teuchi was a civilian with a chip on his shoulder.

Sarutobi set the scroll on the table and sat down.

"The first time I met you down here, you had a C rank Iwa-nin chopped up on the table. All for your family… how are they in Tanzuku, by the way?"

Teuchi never broke eye contact. "Ayame's been holding a grudge the size of Ame, and my wife still sends me love letters like we're teens. She's very sweet. Why am I suddenly being asked to teach Naruto-kun, Sarutobi."

That was not a request, and Sarutobi wasn't petty enough to pick a fight over it. He sighed, and set his hat on the table.

"The council. I need you to teach him as much as you can as quickly as you can. Danzou has already refused and will be pushing to see the Kyuubi placed in another host."

"Ugh… rushing things means ugly results." Teuchi ran a hand over his face, "...Sarutobi, that kid barely knows what's goin' on, and you want me to teach him how to cut people open and be okay with it? _I_ wasn't okay with it. It doesn't take much to figure that the kid isn't cut out for the sort of shit I did."

The Hokage stared at Teuchi for a long time, "I know. If I could have taught him myself, or had another… _cleaner_ ninja do this, I would have, but..."

"But _what?"_ Teuchi snapped, "You're the god damn hokage. You talk, people listen. That's how it goes right."

Sarutobi _scoffed._ "No. Let me be clear. If we were at war things would be different. In times of peace, a council of my peers; clan leaders and such, are instituted alongside a council of civilians to weigh every important decision I make. The Daimyo acts as tie breaker, and our current one often deigns in favor of civilians and is just as scared of the Kyuubi as the civilians." He leaned back in his chair, "I can not ask any ninja to train little Uzumaki without them promising to sponsor the boy outright, and to do that would mean that they stop their careers to tie themselves to a boy that has not… is not proven. Their success and reputation would be upon the boy's head, and Naruto-kun has not made many friends these past few years."

Teuchi glared back at Sarutobi, an accusation on his lips, baseless as it was. He bit back the insult, and gestured for the man to continue.

"The only reason I got the writ passed was because the civilians thought I was trying to get more food for my shinobi." He took a deep, tired breath, "This is the position I am in, Teuchi. I am sorry. Please help me."

Teuchi scoffed, "… Alright. I'll try to show em' what I can.

To Sarutobi, it was the closest thing to hope he could get.


	4. Chapter 4

"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto! Get up here!" Mizuki called. "Last match of the day, make it a good one, alright?"

Sasuke walked to the center of the circle, every step he took belying the grace with which he carried himself, and not at all how uncomfortable he actually was. Being stuck in a fighting ring with a bunch of other academy students like a circus animal… how embarrassing.

Naruto pushed past through crowds of students to get to the center of the circle.

"Hey, you guys hear that? The crazy loser's gonna fight!" Kiba yelled, "Oi Sasuke, put him down before he bites you or some crazy shit!"

"Oi, shut the hell up!" Naruto snapped back at the jeers, finally shoving his way to the center of the crowd. The boy set his jaw, and stalked towards Sasuke, stopping an arm's length away. "Oi! Sasuke-teme! You're goin' down, you hear me!? I've been training SUPER hard!"

To Sasuke's credit, he didn't look nearly as uncomfortable as he felt. "You've been saying that all month."

"Hey! Quit tryin' to act cool, bastard!"

Sasuke, for all his relaxed awkwardness, stood there for a moment, looking like he wanted to be anywhere other than where he was right then.

"Nothin to say?! I ain't goin down easily, y'know! I'm gonna-"

Mizuki cut Naruto off with a quick slice of the hand, "Hajime!"

Naruto never had time to react. Thanks to Sasuke's sheer speed and partly due to how unprepared he was, Naruto found himself tumbling backwards as a fist crashed hard into his face. He found himself dazed and sluggish, staring up at the sky while the roaring of a crowd cheered against him. Naruto pushed himself back up to his feet. "S'at all you got, bastard?"

The dark haired boy sighed the martyr's sigh.

 **...Use… Faster…**

"Wh-what?!"

The emotion came faster, harder this time. Sheer and unmitigated sadness laced with anger. He should be better, stronger, faster, _smarter._ What kind of fox wasn't smart? He wasn't. He was stuck here. Trapped underwater in a cage made of a flesh, watching his other half flounder in the hopes of pleasing a group of _childlings._

And just like that, Naruto was lost in loss. A bizarre feeling of hopelessness overwhelmed him,

In his reverie, Naruto never saw Sasuke's foot coming. It crashed into his jaw and knocked him out of the combat circle… and out of consciousness.

Iruka sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Alright, someone get him on his feet and let's get going back inside. It's lunch time."

Sasuke grumbled something, and tugged Naruto up and onto limp feet, then tossed the boy's arm around his shoulder.

Iruka raised an eyebrow as he watched Sasuke drag the boy back into the academy.

* * *

 **...it hurts…**

"Shut up..."

A bright blue eye stared back at him beneath writhing shackles made of hooks and nails and numerous seals. Naruto felt trapped, but more than that, overwhelmingly, he felt a complete misery. Being chained and sealed and seeing what was most precious to him taken just out of his grasp. He watched as it walked through misery alone. If he could have, he would have screamed.

His little one.

… **hurts…**

"I said shut up!" Naruto snapped awake. Anger flashing in his eyes at foreign emotions that'd assaulted his mind while he slept. He began looking around frantically only to find a mostly empty class, occupied only by Uchiha Sasuke.

"...Hell are you lookin' at?" Naruto grumbled.

"Not much." And then he looked away from Naruto, instead opting to stare out the window instead.

"Tch… bastard." Naruto mumbled to himself, trying not to think about how the voice was getting worse. Booming in his head, forcing him to compete with thoughts and emotions that weren't his.

He never really noticed that Iruka walked in until the instructor was standing in front of him. "Naruto-kun, you feeling any better?"

"Yeah… I mean… yeah of course I feel better! Future Hokage, right?!" Naruto huffed, "I'm okay Iruka-sensei."

"Alright," Iruka patted his head, "We've got a pop quiz. Do your best, okay?

Of course, the rest of the students filed in one by one, greeting with their sensei with an enthusiastic, "Hey! Sensei! Pft, you made Naruto sit at the front, huh? Serves him right."

Naruto raised his middle finger.

"Oi! Sensei! Sensei! Hey! Sup loser."

Both middle fingers.

"Naruto..." Iruka's glare had Naruto putting his hands flat onto the desk in a flash.

But then the bustle returned with a vengeance when Sakura and Ino burst in the room and got stuck in the doorframe, "Cow!"

"Forehead!"

"I was here first! _Move!"_

"Shut up, pig!"

Iruka sighed, and nursed the swelling headache that pounded its way into his head. This was the life… and class he chose. A class of heirs and well to do students, expected to be the best crop of genin in years.

Alongside Naruto.

"H-hello Iruka-sensei."

Iruka smiled not unkindly to Hinata. A young girl with a devastatingly obvious crush on Naruto. He found her to be the complete inverse of Naruto. Quiet, sweet, alarmingly gentle, and frighteningly competent in taijutsu, she was a student that he'd always been endeared towards. She was… inoffensive… if nothing else.

"A-ah, hello Naruto-kun."

Naruto peered at the girl with a dubious eye… but just as soon gave her a cheerful, albeit dubious wave. "Uh… hey."

Hinata looked like she could have died happily in that moment… to have Naruto sit that close for once, and then say hello? To most it was nothing. To her it was enough. And Naruto certainly wasn't used to anyone being friendly for no reason. Maybe sitting him next to Hinata more often would be good for them? Although Iruka frowned as he peered at the door. Shikamaru, and Choji were late. Frowning, he clapped the book in his hands closed, and shot to his feet.

"Alright! Let's get to work, so we need to go over a few things today. First, the academy is now mandating further basic training sessions by the month." Set up _specifically_ to see to Naruto's deficiencies. "Some of you will need remedial training in the basic three tenants of ninja, and I'll be providing the tutoring throughout the week."

Kiba raised his hand.

Iruka sighed.

"What is it, Kiba-kun?"

"I don't wanna say names, but there's only one guy in here that's gonna embarrass us, right?" Kiba released a bark of a laugh, "Hinata, what're you doin' sittin' next to that psycho anyway?"

A few students laughed, the sounds of blatant mocking except for Hinata, who just squeaked and looked away. Naruto's eye twitched, and he looked like he was going to explode, and Iruka's expression was more than a little dangerous.

Just as the boy clutched his desk hard and turned to face Kiba, Iruka spoke up.

"Be quiet, Kiba." His voice snapped, a whip cracking them into silence, "You're all here to learn, and I won't abide you mocking _any_ student for needing help."

Not any more, at least. It was hard not to see what his and Mizuki's actions for the last 3 years had wrought. The students saw Naruto like he did; a joke, some _thing_ to be picked on when the fancy struck them.

"Alright, so today we're covering bunshins and the different kinds you come across..."

* * *

Naruto just as soon found himself at the Ichiraku's, his frown matching Teuchi's, as a bowl of ramen was placed in front of him, and alongside that, scroll the size of his forearm.

It was just out of the ordinary enough for Naruto to _not_ dive into his ramen right away.

"Eh? Hey old man, what the hell is this?" Taking the scroll in his grubby hands, the boy unraveled it and read over it briefly, "Eh?"

 _From the Office of the Sandaime Hokage:_

 _Teuchi of reinstated group: The Butchers, is hereby granted authority and mentorship over one Uzumaki Naruto for the remainder of the Academy year…_

"Eh? What's a mentorship mean?"

The ramen chef gave Naruto a flat look from where he stood, and with all the patience he could muster as a man who'd agreed to teach a child, he set his butcher's knife down on the cutting board, and turned to the boy. "It means that during the school year, the hokage wants me to teach you how to fight."

Instantly, Naruto burst into laughter.

"You can't teach me! You just like… I mean you make ramen! And I love ramen! I mean… wait..." Naruto's eyes went wide, and he nearly gasped, "Are you gonna teach me how to make ramen?! Or ramen-fu!? Can I fight with ramen?"

Naruto had no idea what to make of the small, toothy smile that was _almost_ a sneer that Teuchi gave him.

"Yeah kid, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna teach you how to make ramen." He reached down under the counter and grabbed a small set of chain links, then wrapped them around his right hand and forearm. "C'mere, show me what kind of taijutsu stance you're working with."

"Eh? But I ain't even finished my bowl yet!"

"Hm? Oh right. Here, lemme just..." His fist whipped out, and in a flash the chain around his arm tore through the air and smashed into the bowl of ramen. It shattered, and spilled its contents all over the table. Teuchi ripped the chain back to him, and let it pool at his feet. "Still hungry?"

Naruto froze. In a matter of seconds, his bowl of ramen had been reduced to a puddle of broth on the table. "Uh… no. No I think I can uh…-"

"Great. Stand up and show me your taijutsu. You don't have much time to get your stuff together."

"Alright, alright, fine." Naruto groused and pushed to his feet. "Okay old man, let's see if you can keep up!"

Teuchi balked at the way Naruto stood; his fingers crooked like claws, his back hunched, and legs propped like he were going to start a race. The boy looked more like a wild animal than he did someone trying to practice martial arts. Not like the Inuzuka either… there was _no_ mix of beast and man here… it was all beast. Somehow, the boy looked very, very comfortable like that.

That thought didn't put the ramen chef at ease. Not one bit. "What in the hell? Who taught you that stance?"

To his credit, Naruto didn't seem too unnerved. "I dunno, this is just how I always fought. Why? Should I be doin' somethin' else? It ain't like the guys at the academy ever said anything."

" _Nothin'? Kami,_ so we're workin' from the ground up then." The old man walked over to Naruto and set to adjusting the boy's stance to something a bit more… normal. Fists balled up, and leaned back in a more defensible position. The boy still looked like he had too much wilderness in him, but this looked a bit less… foxy.

"Perfect, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were a natu-..."

 **...Doesn't fit… wrong...**

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" And the boy clutched his head, yelling at the grumbles and emotions of something that'd dug itself so deep inside his head that he could never scratch it out no matter how hard he tried. It growled and bit and snarled and _stayed._

 **Not… thing… get rid of…**

Teuchi watched as Naruto stormed off, yelling loudly at nothing.

* * *

"How is he?"

Teuchi gave Sarutobi a flat stare, "You don't keep tabs on the kid?"

At the end of the day, Sarutobi's office always smelled like stale smoke, scrolls and tea. The office was, as any hokage would have it, immaculate. Every scroll had its place, every heirloom close at hand, even the ceiling had not a speck of dust on it.

The younger of the two old men scoffed, "Your place is pretty boring, Hokage-sama." Teuchi finally sat down and crossed his arms.

"Not enough bloodied weapons for you, Teuchi?" The old hokage asked, idly filling his pipe with crushed leaves.

"Tch, too easy to forget that what you do is hurt people for money in a place like this. Gimme a day and I can have your office looking the way it ought to."

Sarutobi scoffed, "An oversimplification. Also not why I asked you here." He frowned, and lit his pipe with a simple katon, "How is Naruto-kun's training? I can't trust the reports from the Academy, and Danzou does nothing but give me lists of potential vessels for the Kyuubi."

That statement was enough to sober Teuchi, who slumped in his seat after a deep breath, "...Yeah. About that..." He ran a hand over his balding head, "Kami help me the kid is hearin' voices, and I think he's being taught wrong in class. He doesn't know anything about taijutsu and isn't very comfortable in the stance I showed him."

To his credit, Teuchi ignored the way Sarutobi was staring at him.

"Twice in one day, then. The Kyuubi is speaking to him more and more." Sarutobi took off his hat, and rested it on the desk. A rare show of weakness, "I've done terrible things to that child in the name of protecting the village, and I'd do many, many more."

It didn't come out strong like he'd wanted it to, it came old… frustrated. What happened if the one you try to protect becomes your greatest enemy?

"What did you do to him…?" Teuchi heard himself ask, he wasn't sure if he wanted the answer.

"Classified. Teach him whatever he wants, Teuchi. Whatever he asks. If it is in your power, show him. Keep him happy and content. Try to… try to teach him like he deserves to be taught." Sarutobi reached for a very specific scroll on his desk, and glanced back up to Teuchi, "Go, please. I have a long night ahead of me."

Teuchi stared at his old friend for a long while, "...Whatever you think you're doin, Sarutobi, think it through. Don't put him through anything worse." He stood up from his plushy seat and walked away heavier than when he entered. "We hurt a lot of people, but we don't put down kids without reservin' our place in hell, you know?"

Sarutobi sighed, and unraveled the scroll in his hands, and began reading through potential vessels. A younger root operative, preferably someone of the Aburame faction would be ideal in this case.

"My place has long been reserved, friend."

He circled the name, and continued poring over the list.

* * *

Two months later, Konoha council members Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi found themselves watching a curious sight while they ate at Ichiraku's ramen. Uzumaki Naruto, the child carrying the nine tails, standing just off to the side of the shop with a single chain looped around his arm.

Shukaku raised an eyebrow at the sight, and turned to look at Inoichi.

"Looks like the third is getting nervous," He said, before thanking Teuchi for the bowl set before him. "And you've got that look on your face again."

"H-huh?" Inoichi blinked, and he found himself staring at the scared face of his friend, "Did you say something?"

Shikaku gestured with his chopsticks, "It's not hard to catch. Any time you look at Uzumaki you get this look on your face like you've seen a ghost, and then you go far away." He raised an eyebrow, "You okay?"

The blonde haired Yamanaka shook his head, "No. No, I'm okay… I just..." He sighed, and broke his chopsticks, "I try not to think about it. Just work… you know how it is."

"Not sure that I do," Shikaku mumbled. He tried not to think about the kind of work Inoichi did, and what that would have to do with Uzumaki Naruto, and instead started eating, "I wasn't aware that hokage-sama was reinstating the butchers."

It was Teuchi that answered, "One shot thing, he wants me to show the kid the basics. We're hoping it gets him through the academy okay." He rolled his eyes, "Oi Naruto, you gonna stand there all day? I _told_ you! 100 straight whips! If you miss it doesn't count!"

When the boy (inevitably) opened his mouth to argue, Teuchi _immediately_ reached under his counter for a chain. Naruto cursed, and went right back to work.

"Old men keep too many secrets for me," Shukaku grumbled, "It's all kinda troublesome."

Inoichi leaned forward, just enough for his voice to carry, "So the third is so worried about him that he's trying to make him _that_ sort of ninja? Can he handle it?"

The ramen chef rolled his eyes, " _What?_ No. Even if he could handle the sort of shit we did," _The choking and the strangling and the stringing up of bodies for all to see.. purposely crippling genin to slow a group…_ He grimaced at the stray thought, "Just the basics on how to handle a chain, he asked to learn, so I'm showin' him."

Shukaku glanced over at Naruto, and found the boy missing more than he hit, but still, the ones that did hit forced the straw dummy to cave in like at the zone of impact. "Kid's got the strength of a beast… looks pretty good." He hummed, "Think you'll have him in shape for the test? I hear they're bumping it a few weeks sooner so that we can get more quality ninja sooner."

Teuchi scoffed, "Rushin' things means ugly results." He sighed, and gave a long suffering gaze to the sky, "We'll see how this goes, I guess."

Five months wasn't a lot of time to teach a boy who knew nothing, everything.

* * *

Three months to go.

It wasnt' often that Iruka found himself angry. Annoyed, yes. Irritated, all the time. But furious? No, that was reserved for little boys who were throwing away the concerted efforts of a great many people. But he did this day. He let out a seething breath as he stared down at Uzumaki Naruto, who he had lined up with everyone else in the class.

"Okay, because Naruto-kun decided that our time would be spent defacing a national monument instead of learning how to do henge in class, we're going to henge into the hokage until we get it _perfect._

"Oh come _on_ Iruka-sensei," Yamanaka Ino whined, at this point, how much more trouble could she end up in? "Naruto's the one that did it, why not make him do it?"

Naruto, to his credit, did nothing but cross his arms and sulk. "Maybe cuz' you need the practice."

"What did you say to me?" Ino turned to Sakura, her eyes full of murder, "What did the _class dobe just say to me!?"_

Iruka sighed the martyr's sigh, "SHUT UP!" The class collectively gasped like they'd all been slapped, and in the silence, he spoke again, "Naruto-kun will be starting us off. I want an exact copy of the third Hokage."

Naruto groaned, but stepped forward nonetheless. He tried to ignore the giggling and jeers behind him, and formed a single handseal.

"Henge!"

The class burst into laughter almost _instantly_ at the sight of the squat, almost leprechaun-ish form of the third that stood before them. "Hey! Hey! Shut up!" Naruto tried to shout over their howls, but to no avail.

Iruka was not laughing. His eyes widened at the sight of the henge'd Naruto's shadow… two fox like ears were just… there. Was this a prank? If so, how? Could one even henge a shadow? He shook off the dire chill that ran down his spine. "Naruto."

At his voice, the class snapped to attention.

"Go stand outside, I'll see you after the test."

"Aww, _c'mon."_ The boy whined and huffed and shuffled his feet as he walked out of the classroom without much of a fight.

For a brief moment, Iruka shared a glance with Mizuki. The man's eyes were wide, his chest heaved… his jaw clenched tightly like he was waiting for the boy to explode. Iruka frowned deeply, and gestured to the line of students before excusing himself without another word.

First taking Naruto out for dinner, then a _very_ carefully worded report.

* * *

Sarutobi sighed, and ran a hand over his face. "According to academy teacher Umino Iruka, the kyuubi manifested again, this time during a henge. He said that it changed the appearance of the boy's shadow.

The room's only other occupant, Danzou, frowned deeply, and let the silence speak for him.

"I will not hurry Naruto-kun to his death." Sarutobi said, "I have created countermeasure after countermeasure, plan after plan in order to deal with him… but we will not speed him towards death."

Danzou's frown deepened.

"The child is not advancing in his studies at all, and from what Teuchi has told me, his lessons are going worse and worse. He is strong, but inaccurate and cannot think quickly enough. He poses no immediate threat… I believe we should at least give him until he graduates."

Finally, the warhawk spoke, "We cannot afford sentimentality, Sarutobii. It is safer to simply lock the boy up and move the kyuubi. You _know_ I take no pleasure in this..."

A small, sad smile formed on Sarutobi's face. "I know. It is why you will give me this. He is a child, and I would at _least_ see him have one thing to be truly proud of before we take his life. Surely you can understand that, can't you, Danzou?"

"Yes." Came the immediate answer, "I can understand that." For a long while, silence filled the room. "I will vote with you on this." He pushed to his feet, grimacing as his knees pained him, "...Ah… it is going to rain soon."

Sarutobi turned to look out of the office's window, and could indeed see huge, billowing black clouds rolling in from the west, echoes of thunder sounding it.

"So it is… so it is."


	5. Chapter 5

She couldn't.

"Naruto-kun..."

Hyuuga Hinata watched Naruto; he sat on the swing, staring out at the academy. A rare frown fixed on his face, and his deep oceanic eyes threatened to drown him in misery. No forehead protector. No ninja status. Relegated to being a civilian for the rest of his life. For one such as him, there was no worse fate than death. It was cruel.

The young Hyuuga clutched the post she hid behind tightly. She had to say something… she had to say _anything. She had to do something._ Even if she could just get into his view and wave hello… it would be enough to at least…

She made a choice. Hinata pulled away from the tree and took one step… and then another… and before she knew it, she was walking towards the boy on the swing. They were small mincing steps that were timid, and almost lost in their intent… but they were _steps._ And each step was _killing_ her; she knew, she just _knew_ that if she got close to him she would pass out or she would cry or… or…!

Hinata froze, and took a single step. She couldn't do this. She couldn't approach him… not like this. Why would he ever want to hear from _her?_

"D-Dammit..." She heard the boy mumble, and then… sniffling? Her eyes widened when she watched him wipe at his eyes with the backs of his hands.

Her heart broke. Just a little bit.

"Na-Naruto-kun..." All at once, she was rushing. Naruto… _crying?_ No no no… not him. Someone like Naruto didn't deserve to be alone, not during… this. Another step and she felt some semblance of confidence driving her now pushing her forward and keeping her from outright dropping at the sheer thought of being near him. And just like that, she was standing just off to his side, where she could just barely see his face. His hair fell just so that she couldn't see his him, only the tears that streamed down his cheeks.

"...Na-Naruto-kun?"

His grasp on the swings tightened, but a familiar smile pulled across his face with a pained effort. "Hey Hinata-chan. What's up?"

She smiled back as best she could. "A-ah… nothing," she said meekly, "I just wanted… I just wanted to…" Hinata's voice died. She watched another tear stream down Naruto's face, and she felt a miserable dread squeeze her heart. What was she supposed do? What could she say? What _do_ you say to someone who'd just had their dreamed crushed?

"Hey, Hinata-chan?" Naruto turned to her, "Are you okay?"

She met his eyes, and found herself lost in his glistening, tearful gaze. There was a beautiful sadness to them, and before she knew what was happening, her body was _moving._

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him; one hand buried itself into his hair, and the other was around his back and she _squeezed_ him tightly, as tightly as she could. "Don't give up, okay?" She murmured into his ears, a heavy, incredible blush on her face, "It'll be okay, Naruto-kun."

And just as Naruto realized he should've been hugging back, Hinata pushed away from him, eyes wide and her fingers clutched against herself tighter than ever.

"H-Hinata-chan?" The blonde started.

"U-uhm… I should go!" With an awkward bow, she turned and _ran._

She missed the hard blush and look of determination that crossed Naruto's face… along with the sight of Mizuki approaching Naruto.

* * *

Danzou gave Sarutobi the most flat, disenfranchised gaze he could manage at the time. "...So you just left the scroll for him on the desk?"

He took a deep breath from his pipe, "I told you I would let the boy accomplish his goals. Let him be a hero. Let him stop a traitorous chunnin who's been deceived into believing that no one knows his plans. I've dispatched Iruka-kun to intercept, and several personal ANBU to observe the situation from afar."

A soft smile crossed his face.

"I think Konoha could use another hero… just for one night. Don't you?"

The warhawk frowned, but relaxed in his posture before leaning over the desk and peering into the all seeing orb alongside his rival.

* * *

"I can't believe how easy that was!" Naruto cheered, "It was practically gift wrapped for me!" He sprinted through the forest of Konoha as quickly as he could, the Scroll of Forbidden Seals tied haphazardly to his back. "Just gotta get to the meeting spot and then learn one o' these jutsu before he gets here! I'll definitely become a ninja!"

He drove his heels into the ground to stop himself, and practically threw the scroll onto the ground. Naruto dragged the scroll as open as he could, and frantically began reading through the scroll.

"...Oh man, what _is_ all of this!? Wind Slice? All Creation? What does any of this _mean?_ Shit, look at how many handseals that one has!" He tugged at his hair nervously, "Ahh man, this is bad. How am I supposed to learn anything from this?"

 **...Don't…w...**

"Not you again, shut up, dammit! I'll learn one if it kills me!"

The booming voice murmured something else over and over. A menacing growl filling Naruto's head.

"Whatever! I don't have to listen to you!" Naruto frantically read down the list, "Ah ha! Shadow Clone! Watch this, you stupid voice! Watch this, Konoha! I got this! I'll become the best hokage this village ever saw!"

He tried desperately to ignore the claws reaching at the back of his mind.

* * *

"And still, he learns nothing." Danzou muttered, "He has been mismanaged, Sarutobi. Horribly so. Under me, he may have ended up less… emotional, but he would have been effective."

Sarutobi sighed.

"He could have been a lot of things, yes. Have the ANBU ready their senbon."

* * *

"Oh come on… nothing!?" Naruto panted and fussed and stared at the results of his efforts. A single dead eyed, drooling collapsed mass of limbs that occasionally twitched. It was corporeal, but not at all functional. It vanished in a useless fart of smoke, and left the boy standing there alone."

"Geez, you really do suck, don't you? You had like… three hours and you only managed _that?"_ Mizuki dropped down from a tree that was just behind the boy, "How useless are you, really?"

"E-eh?!" Naruto couldn't really help the yelp that escaped his throat, "Oh! Uh… hey Mizuki-sensei. I'm learning how to use kage bunshin right now! Just wait, I'll be the best! Just wait- er… what did you say?"

The silver haired teacher took a long inhale, and then sighed dramatically. "You never were really bright. Or capable. Or likable…-"

"H-Hey!" Naruto interrupted, "I'm all that stuff, you see I got the scroll, right!?"

"-But really, what was I supposed to expect from _something_ like you?" He rolled his eyes, and took a calm step forward, "Anyway, hand over the scroll, kid."

"E-eh? But I thought..."

"Tell you what, hand over the scroll, and I'll have you declared a genin as soon as we get back to the village." His left hand tickled the handle of a kunai. At this point, it might be a mercy to put the boy down. Like a stupid dog. Mizuki grinned at the thought.

It was not a nice smile, but the words were too tempting, and Naruto was too desperate to let his instincts warn him. The boy's eyes widened, and he started nodding feverishly.

"Just like that?! Really!? Okay, here you go!" He rolled up the scroll and hefted it into his arms, a wide smile on face. The boy took a step forward to offer the scroll up to Mizuki.

Neither boy or man expected to hear sharp cry echo through the forest.

"Naruto-kun, no!"

Mizuki sighed, and blurred towards Naruto, kunai raised high.

* * *

"Hrm… Iruka-kun is late." Sarutobi mused, and found his hand nervously tapping the table as he watched Mizuki lunge at the boy. "I don't believe this was a wise plan." He said with something of a relieved sigh. Iruka batted the kunai away from Naruto, but consequently left himself open. "Give the signal to the ANBU. Let us end this before the child is harmed..."

Dazou narrowed his eyes, and cupped his gnarled chin in thought. "No. Wait."

"Danzou..." It came out in a warning rumble, but the one eyed man didn't react, not even under the pressure of crushing murderous intent. He simply continued to watch the battle.

"Sarutobi. If you're to present the case that the boy can be more than just a nuisance to the council, then you need to let him fight. If he gets hurt, you can say that he did so in the service of Konoha… if not, then you can say he was instrumental in the capture of a dangerous criminal. Either way, it buys you time to figure out what to do with your latest failure."

"...And you gain _what_ from this?"

"First hand observation of your ninja and the vessel," He admitted, "It will help me build a case against you for when we face the council in regards to Naruto-kun's transference of the Kyuubi to the boy you selected."

The third hokage sighed, then nodded slowly. "Ah."

He could feel the weight of his decisions coming to bear.

* * *

" _Wh-whats going on!?"_ Naruto yelled.

Mizuki laughed. Iruka turned to Naruto so sharply that he managed to get a crick in his neck.

"Why are you still here!? Naruto-kun, _run! Hh!"_ He inhaled pointedly Mizuki's kunai flashed down at the spot between his shoulder and his neck. He leapt backwards a few steps, and ignored the slice that bloomed crimson vertically down his clavicle and into his chest. "Naruto..."

Iruka looked around frantically, and instead found himself trying to avoid a flurry of shuriken. In the rush, he never had the chance to see if Naruto got away.

"You probably need to focus on the guy with the kunai, Iruka-kun. Lookin' out for the demon is what got you into this mess to begin with." Mizuki practically cackled, twirling the kunai by his finger as he slowly approached the injured Iruka.

The young chunnin smirked back at Mizuki. "He's not a demon."

Mizuki vanished, and appeared midswing behind Iruka, "And I ain't loyal." He brought the kunai down with all the strength he could.

" _IRUKA SENSEI!"_

THUNK.

The kunai hit something not flesh and bone, and Mizuki bit out a curse. His kunai was planted into the scroll of forbidden seals, and Uzumaki Naruto was standing there, holding it up, cowering under its weight.

"A-ah… hey Iruka sensei."

Iruka snapped around, only to see Mizuki standing over the boy. "Naruto!?"

"Sorry, I never was good at followin' directions, I guess."

"Knew I should have just put you down, nine tails." He grabbed Naruto by his hair, and drove his knee into the boy's stomach. Naruto was instantly wheezing for air as he dropped the scroll to his side.

"Fuh-fuc-" The boy never got the curse out.

Mizuki's fist crashed into Naruto's face twice before the boy went limp in his arms, and his labored breathing suddenly went shallow.

"Naruto-kun!" Iruka snapped around, only to see Mizuki standing over the unconscious form of the boy.

Mizuki calmly picked up the scroll, and strapped it around his back, then unholstered a shuriken the size of his forearm.

"Shame I didn't get to tell him about the whole demon thing. But I think I settle for putting both of you outta your misery." His grin grew wider, finally exposing the depth of his amusement. "I'm actually ahead of schedule… let's go."

He pointed the blade at Naruto's neck.

"Quick, stop me before I do something horrible."

Iruka grit his teeth, and determination shone through his fear for his fallen student. In a burst of speed, he rushed at Mizuki, kunai in hand.

* * *

When Naruto's eyes opened again, he found himself staring at nothing. Wherever he was, place was covered in an inky sort of darkness, the kind that children hide under their covers from. The kind of darkness that always hid something horrible beneath its depths. His nostril's burned with every inhalation of breath; the air was so acidic… caustic and humid, it stuck to his skin and weighed him down.

But perhaps most frightening was the sound of heaving, labored breathing. Every breath a strangled struggle, followed by the rattling of chains.

And then a whine. A soft, high pitched mournful sound that filled Naruto's ears.

"Where… where the hell am I?" He mumbled, and took a single step forward, nearly stumbling in the knee high waters, as black as the area around him. "What the hell is goi-"

As if in response to his question, a razor thin stream of chakra lazily ebbed out from his chest and shot forward into the darkness, stopping only when it illuminated a clear path.

Naruto huffed, and took a single step forward.

 _A large, haunting visage stared down at him. It's presence fearsome, daunting, intimidating, demanding respect and dominion of all around it. He should have been scared… he should have been threatened. All he felt was pleased… Naruto, just months old, happily cheered and giggled at the sight of it. At the sight of him. "We are no longer alone, little one. I will not let you be alone."_

A deep, alarmingly gentle and _familiar_ voice filled him with warmth. Naruto swallowed the knot that'd welled up in his throat, and wiped his eyes frantically with the back of his hands. "Wh-what was that?"

The darkness didn't offer an answer.

Naruto took another single, labored step.

" _Are you hungry? You are hungry. I am sorry you are hungry. I will feed you, little one." The great_ _shadow_ _, or as Naruto knew him, Kura-kun, did not understand hunger as he did. It understood the word well enough, but to actually understand that gnawing, empty sensation in his young charge's belly. The Kyuubi would manifest only when needed, but he relished the wind at his back every time._

His eyes jolted wide in realization. He remembered this. He remembered _hearing_ that before. Kura-kun. _Kura-kun_ _. Why was the_ _kura-kun_ _taking care of him? Why was he so happy when he thought_ _about_ _it!?_ Naruto stopped trudging and started pumping his legs as quickly as the black waters would let him, moving faster than he should have been able to, every step delivered to him fragments of his own memories, and closer to the source of that _painfully_ familiar voice.

Every once in a while, a bigger memory would surface, filling his head so badly that it was all he could think about. He stuttered in his footing, and nearly fell as a memory blindsided him.

 _The fox didn't try to hide it, either. It nuzzled Naruto gently about the chest, and allowed the small boy to hug its snout as tightly as he could. The fox dropped down onto all fours, watching Naruto intently as the boy bawled harder and harder._ _"I'm sorry you were hurt."_

Naruto came back for air swallowing deep gulps of breath. Panic swelled in his chest, and dismay knotted itself inside his belly. Why did he forget? _How_ could he have forgotten?!

He ran, fighting and clawing against the black waters full stop. Naruto didn't know where he was going, but he knew he needed to be there.

 _The world went white, and suddenly he was four again. He and Kurama had just closed their eyes, and Kurama rested its head on his belly, heavy and warm. Naruto mumbled something affectionate under his breath, and the fox merely breathed a hint heavier and blindly licked. It'd been a serene, sleepy moment until the door burst open, and Yamanaka Inoichi's hand was on his head. Sarutobi's hand was on his belly and he was saying things the boy didn't understand and then a shock of chakra ripped out and then he felt his connection to the Kyuubi severed; Ripped and torn, twisted and yanked out like losing an eye or a hand or a friend. Was this what being broken felt like? If someone cracks your head open and scratches something out of your mind, can it be put back again? Naruto screamed and writhed and pushed away from a gnarled hand that held the best intentions. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. This is for your own good."_

Naruto's eyes went wide, and he choked back a sob as his memories came rushing back. That name. _That_ name. He knew that name. His voice cracked as he screamed.

"KURAMA!"

Deep within the depths… a single, bright blue canine eye flared open. A beacon of hope in a desolate place. Damn the waters, Naruto flew.

* * *

Danzou steepled his hands and watched the academy teacher battle Mizuki somewhat dispassionately.

"How much longer do you expect me to stay my hand, Danzou?" Sarutobi asked, taking a drag of his pipe. Iruka lead Mizuki into a particularly nasty shrapnel trap, but all that did was scar the man superficially. "Surely you've gotten the information you needed."

"I did, yes." Danzou answered in that gravelly voice, "My men are in position, Sarutobi. Did you truly think I would wait for their battle to finish to take the Kyuubi?"

"Danzou..." Sarutobi's blood ran cold.

"Do not worry. You should simply call it… insurance. In the event that you do not have the heart to take Naruto-kun into custody, I will. One way or another, he will be declared a hero, and the Kyuubi will be moved into one of my bases where he can be extracted _safely."_

For the first time in a long time, Sarutobi snarled, "You would resort to _trickery-"_

And for the first time in a long time, Danzou met his eyes with more than mild disinterest, "I would resort to _more than that_ in order to protect this village."

* * *

Naruto didn't stop running until he reached the ruins of the old seal. Shattered shards of impossibly strong metals lay strewn about. There were pieces as large as he was, and some even larger; a graveyard of something that should have been impossible to destroy, all sticking up out of the ground like gravestones, facing away from the point of impact. The legacy of the Yondaime, broken at the feet of two lonely beings.

And at the center of this graveyard was the Kyuubi, completely and utterly chained down, every muscle restrained as tightly as possible. Locks and rivets and bolts dug into its body; the sealing mechanics were hideous, inelegant and ruthless in their intent. Clearly, this wasn't designed simply to restrain the chakra beast, it was designed to cause as much harm as it could while locking the Kyuubi away. Its muzzle was forced into the water, where it struggled to lift its head long enough to take a breath, much less speak for more than a moment at time. On top of all of that were enormous chains that pulled from every direction, bolted to the ground. Ensuring that the Kyuubi could never have the freedom to move.

Every moment of its life was agony.

"...What the hell did they do to you?" Naruto murmured as he walked around the chained Kyuubi, from the side all the way to its front, where its muzzle was wrapped in chains so tightly that they cut into its flesh, and several masterfully written seals adorned its snout. Still, its eyes matched Naruto's; Big beautiful oceanic blues that could crack the sky if it blinked hard enough.

It took a massive, wheezing breath, and struggled to heft its snout high enough to speak two words.

 **...Little one...**

Naruto's smile split his face, hearing that again… it was like he'd been underwater for years, and now he was finally getting to breathe again. For the first time in _years_ , he was himself again. "Hey… don't talk okay?" A single hand came to rest on the clutch of seals that rested on the Kyuubi's snout. "I'm sorry they hurt you, Kura-kun."

He tore one seal away.

The chains restraining the Kyuubi's tail instantly broke away. They shattered into scrap, and the Kyuubi's nine tails instantly began wagging madly, they flagged left and right rapidly in a blur. It's eyes never stopped chasing Naruto in a mad, desperate sort of affection.

It was a desperation that Naruto knew far too well.

"I missed you a lot, you know?" The two stared at each other for a long moment, and Naruto shook off the myriad emotions that pushed into his eyes, "Okay…" He said with glistening eyes, "Let's get you outta here, huh?"

Naruto clutched a handful of the seals into his fist, and ripped those away as well. The chains wrapped around the Kyuubi's torso fell away. Another group of seals were torn off, and the bolts holding the fox into the water released, allowing it to stand to its full height. Kurama took a single step, and bumped Naruto with its nose.

"Yeah, I hear ya." Naruto bumped the Kyuubi back, briefly resting his forehead on the Fox's nose before reaching up to the last seal. "You ready to get outta here?"

Kurama gave the slightest snort, causing Naruto's hair to blow back, and then settle over his eyes.

"Heh, yeah." He pulled the final seal, and the area around them erupted into _light._ The water at their feet evaporated into nothing, leaving fresh grass in its wake. Trees pushed up from the ground and stretched into the sky, wasting no time in towering over both of them. The Kyuubi instantly erupted into action, pushing Naruto down onto his back onto a bed of fresh daffodils (When did _that_ happen?) with a single paw, and then draaaaaaged its tongue over his face.

"Hey! _Hey!"_ The Uzumaki couldn't stop himself from laughing, though. For the first time in four years, he finally felt like _himself_ again.

 **You forgot me.**

Naruto looked away from the fox, his smile dying on his lips, "Yeah… I'm real sorry…" His head fell, full of too many memories and too heavy with grief, "I didn't _know_ I forgot I…"

 **...Little One…**

"...you were my friend and I treated you like _trash."_ He felt tears pricking at his eyes again, "And… and… I'm gonna cry again… sorry."

 **Little one,** **I forgive you…** The fox swept forward and wrapped Naruto in its tails before pulling the boy close, and nuzzling the boy's chest. **You were not at fault.**

That brought the sunshiney, albeit watery smile back to Naruto's lips. He sniffled, and buried his face into Kurama's coat to hide his face. "Kura-kun..."

 **I promise. It was not your fault.**

Raw affection rippled through Naruto's chest, a warm and sunny feeling deep inside that left him laughing while wiping his tears and made him feel like he was four again. Naruto hugged the Kyuubi's snout again, as tightly as he could, for his long as the giant fox would let him.

 **I missed you. Greatly.**

The boy nodded, "Yeah…" Slowly, he pushed himself back up to his feet, and rested a hand on the Kyuubi's nose. "Lets go kick some ass."

 **Language.**

It came out in a terse, demanding way that one would expect from a stern parent. He wasn't going to hear the last of this… he could _feel_ it; but behind that admonishment was a certain fondness, and it took the edge off the scolding. He laughed lightly, and closed his eyes. He adored it.

"Okay… let's go help Iruka-sensei."

 **Let us go break the enemy.**

They agreed.

* * *

"Where the hell is the _back up?"_ Iruka hissed in pain as another kunai pierced the place between his shoulder and collarbone, locking into the bone and forcing his arm to dangle uselessly. This fight had gone so wrong so quickly. On a good day, he was evenly matched with Mizuki… on a good day, he wasn't defending his student's unconscious body from a traitor that wanted to see how many kunai Iruka could catch before Naruto got killed.

But this was not a good day.

"Okay, looks like my time is up, Iruka-kun." Mizuki vanished. Shunshin no jutsu. He was no expert at it, but he was good enough to catch a tired enemy. Mizuki appeared behind Iruka and Naruto mid swing, his aim was for the back of Iruka's head. "Die fast, huh?"

Iruka wasn't fast enough. In the world of ninjas, all it took was one mistake to end up dead… and tonight, he'd made more than a few of them. And this night, all of those mistakes came to bear. "Just like that?" Iruka smirked, "Sorry, Naruto-kun."

The kunai, fisted tightly in Mizuki's hand, swung down onto the school teacher's head. The attack however, never made contact. Instead, there was an animalistic _roar_ that tore through the sky and echoed through the minds of everyone there. It was a sound that Iruka would… _could_ never have forgotten. It was anthem for the death of his parents, and he knew this song well.

The Kyuubi.

A pillar of black chakra erected itself into the sky, the shape of an animalistic claw, searing Mizuki's hand and melting the kunai… Iruka had only a short time to see his student standing in front of him, a single hand raised along with that monstrous claw.

"Shit!" Mizuki immediately began swiping at his hand, trying to get the molten slag off of his hand. "Damn _demon."_

"...Hey, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto turned to look back at Iruka, his hair hanging over his eyes.

"Na-Naruto-kun?" Iruka slumped backwards onto his butt, half in relief, half in fear. Everyone in that clearing remembered what the Kyuubi sounded like… the only thing that was missing was the horrible killing intent that had driven men insane. Instead, there was a certain… warmth to this chakra. It was still horribly violent and unstable… but warm. Dangerous the way the sun was. Iruka swallowed, and tried to calm his increasingly rattled nerves. "What are you…-"

"Don't freak out, okay?"

"But Naruto-kun…-"

Naruto lowered his hand, and the inky chakra sank back into the ground. He paid Mizuki a sidelong glance that almost seemed _apologetic_ , and murmured a single word, "Kura-kun."

Mizuki froze. A sharp, _deep growl_ that echoed through the air, coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. " _What?"_

And then a nine-tailed fox the size of a grown man leapt from Naruto's shadow, pitch black chakra sloughing from its body like heavy rain off of a slick coat, claws outstretched, gaping maw filled with teeth the size of kunai wide open, all careening towards the traitor at breakneck speed. All Mizuki could do was scream before his body was trapped inside of the Kyuubi's gaping jaws. They squeezed _just_ enough for a few echoing cracks to sound, and raw fear and blood to pour out of the man's body. There was no time to think or fight back for him, just a quick, brutal affair that left him unconscious and broken.

The fox gave the man in its mouth a quick and terrible shake, causing the limbs to flail wildly before it let Mizuki drop to the ground bonelessly.

Iruka simply stared in silent awe and abject terror at the nine tailed fox that'd just saved his life and the boy that stood in front of him, fearless. "Naruto-kun..."

A whisper, no response from Naruto. It was like the boy was in some of kind _trance..._ The fox, seemingly satisfied with the state of Mizuki turned and began walking towards Naruto and Iruka.

"Naruto-kun!" All of Iruka's fear and anguish tore out of his throat, and he grabbed Naruto by the collar and pulled him as roughly as he could, dragging him around and making it so that they were looking at each other eye to eye.

...That seemed to get his attention.

"Eh, Iruka-sensei? What's-"

"Naruto-kun, you gotta run okay? I'll try and distract it for as long as I can but..." His eyes went wide, and Iruka found himself thinking of what his parents told him before they'd fled to their death. He gave Naruto his best smile, and rested a hand on his head, "Hey, I'll hold this guy off for as long as I can. Just run and hide okay? You were the best little brother I could ask for… sorry I was such a dick at first."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "B-brother?"

Iruka turned to face the Kyuubi, one kunai in each hand and a scowl on his face. "Alright… lets do this."

The Kyuubi, enormous and threatening, dark and haunting, looked like something he saw in a nightmare. No longer did it have the fur made of fire or those demented eyes… now it was pitch black with gaping jaws of pearly white. It stopped just before Iruka, and looked down at the man, its head tilting this way and that, like it was seeing a human for the first time.

 **Audacious.** It said simply, and tried to step past Iruka. Instead, it was greeted with a kunai swipe that was as fearful as it was desperate.

"Your opponent is me!"

 **Our opponent is broken.** It responded without missing a beat. This time, the Kyuubi sat back on its haunches, its tails wagging lazily through the air while it stared down at Iruka with its bright blue eyes.

"...Our?"

"Oi! Kura-kun!" Naruto dashed out from behind Iruka and leapt at the fox, arms wide open.

"Naruto, no!"

And then Iruka had his worldview promptly shattered.

The fox lowered its head so that it could greet Naruto eye to eye, opened its mouth slightly… and this licked the boy hard enough that he fell on his butt.

"Oh _c'mon_ Kura-kun!" Naruto positively cackled, and the great Kyuubi laughed with him. It was a not an unkind sound, and that made Iruka even more uncomfortable with what he was seeing.

The school teacher's arms fell to his side, limply.

Oh! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto was back onto his feet like a shot, grinning like he wasn't playing nice with the thing that'd nearly destroyed Konoha. "I guess… uh… as your b-brother you should know. This is Kura-kun. He took care of me when I was really little. Say hi, Kura-kun."

 **Hello, Iruka-sensei.**

There was a fondness in Naruto's voice that Iruka found completely foreign… and was that fondness in the fox's voice as well? So much about this night was _alien_. Had Naruto tamed the Kyuubi? What did he mean the fox took care of him when he was little? Was the fox manipulating him? Did he _know_ what a monster the kyuubi was? Was he safe? Even if he wasn't could Iruka _protect_ him?

Iruka felt his legs finally give, and he slumped back onto his butt.

As the fox and the boy approached him, both with bright blue eyes, Iruka wondered if this is what going insane felt like.

* * *

Two old men sat in a dark office.

Sarutobi's eyes were wide, frozen in wild bewilderment and he held his hands held up like he was being held at knife point. Konoha's greatest and most destructive disaster had just assisted in the capture of a criminal alongside his vessel. _Alongside him._ Naruto had sicced the Kyuubi on that man like he' was a trained dog… and now? Now the two were speaking to Iruka like civil friends.

"Abort." Danzou muttered, his finger pressed to his ear, "Just inform him to come to the office when he is done talking, oh, and grab the traitor and the scroll." His hand dropped onto the desk, and his frown deepened. "...Complete control. One day ago, he couldn't do a proper henge, and now he seems to have complete control over the nine tailed fox."

Sarutobi said nothing, outside of forming a single handseal, recalling his ANBU into the office. "We need to understand what just happened."

Danzou frowned yet deeper, "I hope that boy is as endeared to you as you think he is."

* * *

"Hey, hey Sensei. You okay?" Naruto jogged over to the man, and immediately dropped down to the ground to meet him, crouched down, resting on his heels. "Man, that almost got ugly, huh?"

Iruka took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. When he opened them, Naruto was still sitting in front of him, and the Kyuubi, with its haunting black visage and bright blue eyes were still seated behind him, its head tilted as it simply… observed him.

"Na-Naruto-kun. I'm fine… the Kyuubi..." It came out in stutters and starts, making his best impression of Hinata as he slowly pushed to his feet.

"Yeah… don't call em' that. His name is Kurama. I call em' Kura-kun, but you better stick to Kurama for now." Naruto said easily, moving to help his sensei to his feet. He moved with the sort of confidence one had when they felt comfortable with themselves.

Iruka gracefully accepted, and leaned hard on the boy. His mind was racing. Naruto had a _nickname for it. He had nicknamed the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi was okay with it._

"This is a lot to take in." He finally said, a single hand pressed to his head to fight off the incoming headache. Migraine. Earthquake-in-head.

Naruto laughed at that, open and carefree. Not at all that boisterous, unnecessary loudness that seemed to come with loneliness. In fact, in all of the excitement, he noticed that the boy wasn't running around screaming that he'd beaten a chunnin… no, he was just smiling cheerily at Iruka and Kurama. It was the happiest he'd ever seen him.

That had to count for something. It _had_ to.

"You're telling me! I thought I was alone and stupid and wrong and then… and then..." Again, he was distracted when the Kyuubi wandered over and licked him once on the top of the head, then walked into his shadow. Naruto laughed, and playfully swiped at the Kyuubi. "...And then you and Kura-kun happened tonight. This was a pretty good night, huh?"

Iruka stood there, completely and utterly dumbfounded. He was happy. He'd made friends with a demon… and he was _happy._

"Uzumaki Naruto? The Third requests your presence."

An ANBU appeared in front of the two of them in a pillar of smoke, Mizuki's unconscious, broken body draped over his shoulder like a tattered rug.

A grim line crossed Naruto's lips, "Yeah… okay. I'll see you tomorrow, okay Iruka sensei...I mean… bro? This is gonna take some getting used to. Get better, okay?"

Iruka gave the best he could in the moment. A single nod and a few pats on the boy's shoulder. "Yeah. Yeah okay."

The ANBU placed a single hand on Naruto's shoulder, and the two of them vanished, leaving the teacher standing there alone, staring up at a star filled sky.

"...what the hell, Naruto?"

* * *

In an instant, Naruto found himself standing in front of the hokage and some old man that was all bandaged up like a mummy.

The ANBU next to him gave a salute, an vanished in a plume of smoke.

To his credit, Naruto didn't scream or yell; he simply set his jaw and stared at the hokage. He opened his mouth, and then closed it. Again and again, the boy tried to say something… anything… nothing came out besides the pained expression that crossed the boy's face. He stared at the hokage, and he still saw that cool old man that'd promised to defend the village with his life. That man that always took him out for ramen and looked out for him.

"...You said it was for my own good." Naruto sounded hurt. Tired. And in this moment, he looked scared, like he was going to bolt from the room any second.

Sarutobi sagged in his chair, suddenly feeling far older and far smaller than he was. His shame, a regret that even overshadowed Orochimaru had come to the fore, and its name was Uzumaki Naruto. He took a moment to take a deep breath and get his thoughts together… _any_ thoughts that didn't involve lobotomizing a child.

"You remember everything, then." Sarutobi said, "Naruto… I understand how you might feel, and there will be ample time to discuss this later, but for now, I need to understand the extent of control you hold over the Kyuubi. I need to _know_ that you are no threat to Konoha."

Naruto turned his gaze to Danzou briefly, and then back to Sarutobi. The boy wiped his eyes, "So thats it? You hurt us for a buncha years and we don't even get an apology?" If possible, those big blue eyes looked even more hurt.

Sarutobi and Danzou looked at each other very briefly. Alarm was plainly written on Sarutobi's face, while Danzou's face betrayed nothing.

"Naruto…" Sarutobi frowned, and turned to look at Naruto again. Again, thoughts of the vessel of the one tailed demon shot through his mind. The child had taken to calling it his mother, and was more unstable than ever. Naruto however… "When you say _we..."_

The boy bit his bottom lip.

"We. Me and Kura-kun. There ain't… I don't _control_ him, and he doesn't control me. We're the same." He nervously rubbed his arm, and looked away from Sarutobi, "You don't get it."

"Forgive me, Naruto-kun, this is all very… unclear, and when it comes to the Kyuubi-"

" _Stop_ callin' him that." The kyuubi's anger pulsed through Naruto, and the boy snapped, "That ain't his name."

Sarutobi held both his hands up, as if to show that he didn't mean any harm, then steepled his hands together in silent thought, "Go home and get some rest. We will reconvene tomorrow, after your team assignments in the academy."

No cheering. No excitement. Naruto simply stared at him. All of that hurt and disappointment swam back up to the surface, but he didn't dare let a tear fall. Instead, Naruto simply turned around and walked away, shoulders squared and fists balled up.

Danzou frowned deeply, and Sarutobi took a deep, cleansing breath.

Neither man noticed that when Naruto walked away, his shadow simply… remained.

"Danzou, have your men see to Mizuki. And I mean see to him in the most thorough method possible." Idly, Sarutobi reached for his pipe. "What will you do, now that you know what you know about the boy?"

The bandaged man sighed, "I don't know. If he truly is a perfect vessel, and has complete control, then we would be fools to try to move the Kyuubi now."

The nine tailed fox slowly rose out of the shadow, sitting sitting on its haunches, staring down at the two men with bright burning eyes, and a tilted head that spoke more curiosity than menace. It was at least as tall as the room, and its midnight body devoured any light that came near it.

By the time Sarutobi and Danzou were on their feet, kunais and hands flying through handseals, it was already speaking.

 **You seek clarification. I seek safe passage for my little one.**

It'd been years… a decade since Sarutobi's hands shook this much.

It'd been decades since Danzou felt that his mortality was truly threatened.

Neither was fool enough to believe that if the kyuubi, the nine tailed fox had wanted them dead, it wouldn't have had just that.

Both men sat down, and Sarutobi spoke. He ignored the dread that pulled at the back of his mind, because beyond the fear was an overwhelmingly warm chakra that emanated from the beast… and it felt remarkably like Naruto. "Very well."


	6. Chapter 6

Surreal. Surreal is the term one would use when confronted with the village's greatest nightmare, and said horror was sitting there asking for a peaceful resolution.

Neither Sarutobi or Danzou were prepared for this.

The fox remained on its haunches, its voice echoing and booming throughout the room, as all encompassing as its utter darkness was. **Ask.**

Danzou didn't need to be told twice, and he was far past the point of personal pride, especially when confronted with the Kyuubi itself. "Being as we are not dead and the village does not stand, I take it Naruto does not desire revenge."

The fox turned to look at Sarutobi, **No. He is very upset with you, but he does not hate you.** **I, however, am livid.**

And then the fox was close. Far too close. In the time it took both men to blink, the Kyuubi had crossed the room. It loomed over the two men bearing its teeth, a caustic growl rippling out of its throat. The Kyuubi leaned down close enough that it was a scant inch from Sarutobi.

...And for all that the hokage tried, he could not overwhelm the crushing, debilitating and _suffocating_ killing intent that was the Kyuubi incarnate. Being immersed in it was being drowned in tar; Impossible to breath, impossible to think, impossible to move. All that was left was white hot terror and an understanding that his life was currently _disposable._

 **Know that it is only the little one's will that keeps you alive.**

There was hatred in its voice, and beyond that, no bluster. The fox spoke the truth. Grass grows, the sky was blue, and if Naruto had wished it, he would be very much dead. Sarutobi forced himself to nod in the hopes of appeasing the kyuubi.

 **Tch.** The fox _snapped_ its jaws closed, and the hokage flinched back from him. **The little one will not be pleased with my display. He will appreciate that you still live, though.**

Danzou remained pressed back against his seat, careful to remain quiet. This was, mercifully, between the demon fox and Konoha's hokage. Never before had he been so glad that he'd been passed over for the position. He cleared his throat as best he could. "Ah… Kyuub-"

He stopped cold when the fox's icy blue eyes snapped towards him.

" _Kurama,"_ He amended quickly, "I have two more questions, if I may."

The fox turned a baleful glance back to the sagging hokage, and then rested back on its haunches.

Danzou took that as an invitation to speak once again, "I would ask the nature of your relationship with the boy."

 **We made an agreement and destroyed the seal. We became bound to each other. He is my yin chakra, I am his yami.**

Both old men balked. The seal was _gone._ The fox and Naruto were intrinsically linked. The light side of the fox's chakra was under Naruto's contol, and the darker side of Naruto's sub-conscious was under the dominion of the Kyuubi.

Sarutobi had to remind himself to breathe as the implications came to light.

"...When he said that you all were the same, then..."

 **We are not the same being, but we are of one soul. We wield the same instincts and to some degree, think with the same mind. Did you not wonder why erasing me from the child's mind seemed to have such a dire effect?**

The fox's head tilted, and its eyes narrowed dangerously. The sneering grin it wore mocked Sarutobi.

Sarutobi bit back an apology. He would not apologize to the being that nearly ended Konoha and murdered their greatest hero, "We had no way of knowing you did not seek to harm Konoha. What I did was _reasonable and expected_ of me."

The fox tilted its head the other way, **All Naruto expected was to be tucked in and loved. What he got was his mind torn apart.**

The hokage narrowed his eyes, "How _dare_ you. I couldn't have _possibly known_ what was happening-"

 **Like a monkey you fling shit and wonder why things get dirty.** The Kyuubi turned its head to Danzou, **The little one is beginning to miss me. You had one more question. Speak quickly.**

Sarutobi's eye twitched outright, "You…" A litany of curses on his tongue and a snarl on his lips, the hokage leaned forward, trembling with anger.

"We are here for information, old friend. We may find what is left of your pride, after." Danzou interrupted, "Why do you appear different than you were?"

The fox's grin became less mocking, **The price I paid was a part of my identity. I am his yami, his shadow, and I am free.** It yawned, exposing its razor teeth. **I am leaving, and you have your answers. My little one will be safe in this village with or without you. Choose carefully.**

And then, in a burst of black, the fox sank into the ground. Never did its eyes leave Sarutobi as he descended, seeping into the cracks and the floorboards of the building, leaving two old men sitting alone.

Danzou took a deep breath and sighed as he ran a hand over his head. "Any number of people would have taken him in, you know. I would have seen him trained and properly controlled." He slowly pushed to his feet. "And now you've left the legacy of Konoha's greatest hero to Konoha's most powerful enemy."

The third hokage narrowed his eyes in response, and turned to peer out towards the village.

The bandaged man sneered, and turned to leave.

"Your negligence has benefited Konoha for once, Sarutobi. Try not to sit too proudly."

* * *

"Hey…"

No answer.

"You know that feeling you get when you sleep for way too long, then you wake up and find that the world looks really different than what you remember?" Naruto looked over at the giant sleeping fox that'd hunkered down next to the bed, it's tails and ears twitching and leg kicking when a stray dream ran through its mind.

If he tilted his head and focused enough, he could see the fox in the wild, chasing prey through a forest that dwarfed its massive size alongside other… stranger looking beasts. Somehow, it was more vivid than anything he'd ever seen. The scent of the trees more fragrant, the glory of the chase… _It was all just wildness and freedom._

Naruto shook off the foreign dream, and clambered out of the bed.

Kurama grumbled something under its breath, and shifted its head towards Naruto. It was instantly rewarded with some idle behind-the-ear scratching.

"Guess I should get ready to go, huh?" The fox licked its lips, and fell into a deeper sleep while doing so. It's tongue hung out of its mouth, and Naruto smirked. "Yeah, okay. I'll get ready to go."

He hadn't bothered to throw on his bright orange jacket, instead, he'd simply settled on that black tshirt he sometimes wore under it, along with his usual orange pants and black sandals. "Man, Mizuki did a number on this thing..." He sighed, and looked back at the ripped and torn orange and blue jacket before shaking his head fondly. "I'm gonna miss you, buddy."

 **Everything will be okay.** The fox, still groggy if Naruto could judge by its voice, had finally gotten up and followed him into dining room. Two tails whipped out, tendrils of smoke that bent their very shape to the fox's will and began searching the boy's cupboard. Haphazardly, Naruto found himself presented with a box of cereal, milk, and a bowl. **Change is good… this change is good. Eat.**

Naruto smirked, "…You diggin' in my mind again? Heh… thanks. For everything, not just the cereal and milk..." He tilted his head at the sight of the milk. Specifically, the date that was on the side of the milk, "Oh man… this is expired. Lame." He pushed the container across the table away from him. "Man… Kura-kun, what if no one… you know… what if they don't like me?"

The fox raised a single eyebrow, somehow seeming elegant while doing so.

"I mean, today I get teams, right? But I've been a real asshat for like… _years._ Its all they know about me. What if they don't like how I am now, either?"

Kurama ran a tail through Naruto's hair affectionately, ruffling it up, **Some will, some won't. I like how you are though.**

Naruto scoffed, "Yeah but of _course_ you'd say that. You're Kura-kun!"

 **Sometimes that has to be enough.**

The boy grumbled and sunk in his chair like the kitchen table was devouring him. His arms crossed, and he pouted down at nothing.

Kurama gave a martyr's sigh, and moved to sit down next to Naruto, **You are a likable child, but you will not be swamped with friends in this village because of me.** Seeing the boy's face fall, the Kyuubi leaned down and nudged him, **You will meet friends, little one, I promise. You may not have many, but you will have truly great friends. And you will always have me.**

At the Kyuubi's nudging, Naruto couldn't keep his frown from melting off of his face, replaced by a smile that was matched only by the sun. He patted the fox's side a few times, grinning happily as the Kyuubi circled him. "You're the best, Kura—ehhhh!?" Suddenly, he was being hefted into the air, "Hey! What're you doin'!?"

Kurama's jaws snapped around the back of Naruto's shirt, and began carrying the boy over to the front door. **You will leave early so you can grab something to eat. Breakfast is important.**

"Wh-what? But Kura-kun, I have like-! Hey, come on!" Whatever argument he had died when the fox began shoving him out the door, pushing him roughly with its head. "Oh come on the door isn't even open!"

 **Then open it.**

"I can't open it if I'm being shoved against it!"

* * *

Kakashi found himself reading through the manila folder marked Team 7 repeatedly, the documentation of which was largely useless now. The Uchiha was the same, the Haruno was as expected, but Naruto… he sighed and then he took a moment to look around his surroundings. Naruto's home wasn't much of… well… anything. It looked like it'd been recently cleaned, with a pile of empty instant ramen cups being shoved towards the trash can, filthy clothes piled up in another corner, and the occasional bright orange track jacket thrown onto the floor.

He was thankful that neither Kyuubi or Naruto seemed to care to lock the door after they left… but then, why would they?

"He doesn't have much, does he?" He asked, picking up the expired carton from the table and wrinkling his nose. "At least he started cleaning up." He looked back up at Sarutobi, then put the container down.

"I thought it might be better if you actually saw his standing with the Kyuubi, rather than my trying to explain it." Sarutobi frowned, and shame ran across his face; misery that was buried years deep. "I've… made the mistake of making moving before understanding the situation. I would rather you didn't do the same."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and stared at his old hokage for a moment. There was a story there… and he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear it.

To choose between the Yondaime's legacy and the village… that wouldn't work out well.

"He seems happy…" The silver haired jounin mused, before turning to the hokage, "With the kyuubi, I mean. _They_ seemed really happy together." He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that… The same demon that'd murdered his sensei being utterly inseparable and happy with his sensei's legacy.

"He is happy, yes." Sarutobi sighed, and idly ran his hand along the dining room table, "I know he's… The Kyuubi has raised him longer than anyone in this village; watch him closely, Kakashi."

The jounin's eyebrow raised a bit higher. Raised? Not just spent time with, but the Kyuubi outright _raised_ him? Wasn't the hokage supposed to be doing that? "...You think he's a threat?"

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose in response. "I think he's a _risk_."

The silver haired man ran a hand through his hair. A risk. Not an actual threat, but a risk. A demon was free in Konoha, and he was declared a "risk". Something was going on here, and Kakashi wasn't sure he understood the specifics… but that wasn't his job, either.

He was the sort of man to keep it simple, so he did. Keep an eye out for Naruto. Don't get too close. Read porn in public.

He nodded to the hokage, "I'll keep an eye on them."

Just one eye. Two eyes would be way too much trouble.

* * *

"It's kind of weird bein' out like this." Walking through Konoha without feeling that bizarre need to run around screaming at people had Naruto feeling more than a little antsy. Like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands. The boy simply opted to close his eyes and take a deep breath, even the glares of the adults simply didn't bother him as much as it should have. Idly, he let his gaze cross over the somewhat sizable bag in his hands. "So why'd you have me get three cinnamon rolls, anyway? There's no way I'm gonna eat all these alone. I don't even eat these all that much."

 **That is called consideration and foresight.**

The boy mulled over the Kyuubi's thoughts for a moment, and then gave a shrug and a nod. "Oh. Yeah I guess that makes sense. So who's the third one for then?"

 **Later, in case you get hungry. You're a growing child that needs food to live.**

The blonde stopped walking long enough enough to give his shadow a sidelong glance, a lopsided smile crossing his face.

 **You find my concern… paternal.**

"It's just… stuff I hear other parents say, that's all."

 **You seem pleased about this.**

Naruto's hands crossed behind his head, and he smiled up at the sky, "Why wouldn't I be? It's… it's a pretty nice day, isn't it?"

The fox gave a pleased rumble, and Naruto smiled even wider.

 **Hurry along, little one. I'd rather you weren't late.**

* * *

"Welp, you don't mean a damn thing any more." Iruka stared down at Uzumaki Naruto's file with narrowed eyes, and tried to ignore the pang of hurt in his shoulder. Naruto went from the most harmless and technically deficient ninja in the village to a complete monster, and Iruka couldn''t figure out if he was _okay_ with that. The boy was in league with the Kyuubi… on friendly terms with it, even.

...He was definitely not okay with it.

Iruka looked over at his clock, then back at the dossier sitting on his desk. "Twenty minutes to class and I haven't gotten anything done yet. Even when you're not here you give me trouble..." He grinned slightly, "God _dammit,_ Naruto."

"Oi, I don't _always_ give you trouble sensei." Naruto said from the doorway.

Iruka's eyebrow raised. Naruto? _Early?_ Bullshit. He watched as the boy walked in slowly, nervously, like a kid who was going to school for the first time. He noticed the boy's shadow was longer and darker than it should have been, and tried not to let his nervousness show, but knowing _his_ parent's _killer_ is in the room with him… well… he did his best.

He ran a tired hand over his face, and released a groan. "Tell me you didn't hear me curse."

"Nah, I definitely didn't hear you curse my name. That woulda been..." Naruto suddenly stopped, mid-sentence, cocked his head and then smiled like he'd just heard something pleasant.

Iruka couldn't shake how _weird_ it was to see Naruto thoughtful, even if he was _120% sure_ the boy was talking to the demon…

And then he, _very_ abruptly, had a bag of cinnamon rolls being pushed into his face. The sweet scent of dough, cinnamon and early morning spices filled his nose without warning. It wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"Hey, I grabbed breakfast at the bakery today! Got way too many rolls though, you can have one if you want!" Naruto grinned wide, "See how nice I am? You curse at me while I'm not here, and I _still_ bring you breakfast. I'm the _best_ brother."

The teacher rolled his eyes, and mussed Naruto's shaggy blonde hair. To his surprise, Naruto leaned into it like a pleased puppy. "Yeah, okay. Although you're only the best because you saved my life and got me breakfast."

"Yeah, see? I'm awesome." Naruto pulled the bag out of his face, then peered inside of it, nearly sticking his whole head in. "Oh _shit… er…_ shoot, I didn't grab any napkins."

He winced even before Iruka chided him for his slip. The school teacher idly entertained the amusing thought of the demon fussing at Naruto for cursing. But that would be _crazy,_ right?

"I gotta grab some napkins from the bathroom, I'll be back."

"Oi, I have some right here. I always keep some in my desk just in case one of my students does something silly. Like spill paint all over my desk."

To his credit, Naruto had the good grace to look ashamed, nervously scratching the back of his head as he recalled that prank. "Man, that was only once, and I had like… _half a brain."_

Iruka's rolled his eyes, "Oh what, you saying you got a full brain now?"

He didn't _quite_ know what to make of the smile that he got from Naruto in that moment. It was a sheepish sort of smile that one received when they'd been told a very special secret. Whatever it was, it was very _open_ and very _honest._ He was very, very pleased about something, and for the life of Iruka, he couldn't figure out _what_ made the boy so happy.

"Hey, come on. Aren't you hungry?" Naruto eagerly reached into the bag and set one cinnamon roll out for each of them, "You didn't' get beat up so bad last night that I gotta feed ya, do I?"

Iruka smirked and shook off his moment of reverie, "What did I do to deserve such a bratty little brother, huh?"

Naruto smirked back, "You showed up and tried to pull him outta a real bad situation." He took a huge bite of the roll, and swallowed. "Sorry sensei, you're stuck with me."

Stuck with Naruto, who was stuck with the kyuubi. The same Kyuubi that invaded Konoha years ago and murdered his parents. The same Kyuubi that ruined Naruto's life. The same Kyuubi that had… allegedly taken care of Naruto before anyone else did.

No, he was not okay with the Kyuubi.

But as he enjoyed the company of Uzumaki Naruto, the kid that smiled in spite of it all, Iruka realized that he was smiling back.

Guess that settled that.

"Yeah… I guess I'll have to live with that then."

* * *

 _There he was again._ It was the first thought that crossed Hinata's mind as she walked into the classroom. Naruto was there and Iruka-sensei wasn't fussing for him to leave… in fact, if she didn't know any better, it was almost like Naruto and Iruka were… friendly. Iruka wasn't sitting at his desk tormenting himself over a file, and Naruto… well… Naruto had the oddest smile on his face as he sat peacefully at his desk.

It was probably the most peaceful that she'd ever seen her crush. With the carefree way he rested, hands thrown behind his head. His eyes were closed, his breathing even, yet every once in a while, his smile grew just a little, like he'd heard something funny in his sleep.

It was cute.

"A-ano..." Before she knew it, her heart was in her throat, she was blushing, and she was poking her fingers together. "Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's eyes widened, then flared open and then oh kami he was looking right at her and smiling this brilliant smile that made her knees weak. Naruto gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head. "Hey, Hinata!"

He sounded happy to see her. He sounded _legitimately happy_ to see her. He _looked_ legitimately happy to see her. Hinata shook her head and bit her bottom lip as she moved to sit down next to him. That was another thing, he'd chosen a seat near _her,_ not near Sasuke and Sakura… near _her._

Hinata was so elated, she never really noticed as the other students filed into the class. She was completely lost in Naruto-kun. _Her_ Naruto-kun.

"A-ah… uhm… hey, Naruto-kun. You… did you pass, then?"

"Yeah, something like that." He said the words easily, as though he had nothing to prove. It was…. A refreshing change. "Things worked out for the best, anyway."

For a brief moment, neither of them said anything. The two simply looked at each other, blushing hard and Hinata found the memories of The Hug swelling into her mind.

She started to squeak out an apology apology, and then Naruto attacked her with a bag.

"Oh yeah hey I got you a cinnamon roll!" His fist shot out with the bag in hand, and he eagerly shoved it into the girl's not-so-waiting hands. "Its uh… its because you gave me that uh..." Naruto's shoulders slumped, "Man, this is hard. Just like… here… I got this for you."

"F-For me? How did you know I… uhm..." She reached out slowly shakily and took the bag from him, all the while hiding her blush behind her palm. "Uhm… thank you very much!" She squeaked the words out eagerly snatched the bag him, holding it tightly to her chest the second she had it. She sighed happily… her first gift from Naruto-kun, and he'd even got her her favorite food!

 _How could he be this perfect?_

Naruto smiled that smile that made her stomach do flips. "Yeah? You like it?" He leaned in a bit closer, "I'm glad you like it! If I'd known I'd have definitely gotten you more."

No longer trusting her voice, she just nodded eagerly, "M-maybe we could get… uhm….?" Halfway through the question, she squeaked when she realized what she was saying. Asking Naruto to go with her and get some more breakfast pastries?! What was she _thinking?_

"What?" He started eloquently, "W-wait are you asking me… uh..." Oh kami. He was blushing. He was so cute when he was blushing! And now she was blushing even _harder._

"No! Uh… not… I'm not asking...To… to uh…" Hinata tried again, but she found herself trying to explain that she was not asking to go out with her, just that maybe they could go get some sweet rolls. She ended her stuttered, confused rebuttal with the sound of a squealing mouse.

"Maybe we could just… uh..." Naruto countered, but his words died on his lips the second he caught how red she was becoming. His eyes got wider and wider while he was looking at her and she didn't know why he was staring so hard, but she felt herself getting more and more lightheaded.

And then she found herself pouting the second Naruto's attention was inevitably torn away from her by… well… the _door._ Naruto's ears perked, as though he were hearing something far away, kind of like a puppy that was waiting for someone to come home. "Huh?"

The classroom door burst open, and the classroom was instantly a flurry activity again. Sakura and Ino were the first to charge in, both girls bullrushing the spot nearest Sasuke.

"Ah… how did you know they were..." Her voice died when she saw how intently he was staring at Sakura and Ino. Ahh… so she really didn't stand a chance, huh? The bluenette deflated in her seat, and turned her attention over to the object of Naruto's affection.

"Move it, pig! I was here first!"

"Shut it, forehead, Sasuke definitely wants me next to him! So _move!"_

"...They're so..." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"Why are they so…?" Hinata sank into her seat.

" _Loud."_ They finished at the same time.

Hinata could have died happy in that moment. She didn't quite understand what brought this change on in Naruto but she _liked it._ This had to be the luckiest day she'd ever had. For the second time that day, Naruto and Hinata shared a _very_ brief but fond smile before looking away from each other.

And as Naruto sat there, quiet and filled with nervous energy, occasionally smiling at nothing and _sometimes at her…_ Hinata smiled. Naruto had changed, Hinata decided. There was something simply less.. frantic about the way he spoke and moved. Less desperation, she didn't know how to describe it, and she didn't want to. Naruto noticed her, and that was enough.

* * *

"Alright, lets get this over with," Despite the excitement, the noise in the class died down at Iruka's voice. For _once,_ they listened, because they all knew what came next: team assignments. Meeting their jounin-sensei… and then _sweet ass ninja stuff._

At least, that was how they thought it went, anyway. Regardless, the class was finally quiet, the teacher was standing before them with a roster in hand.

"Oh, so now you all are listening to me? Tch..." He smirked, "Alright, I don't have much time, so I'll just say this. A lot of people don't make it through the academy, you did, and I'm proud of each of you for doing so."

His gaze, for the briefest moment, made its way to Naruto.

"So make sure you listen to your jounin sensei, remember your training, and more than anything, take care of your teammates. Even if you don't like them, their life is on the line alongside yours, so treat 'em well." He tapped the manila folder with the back of his hand. "Let's get down to business, huh?"

The class cheered noisily, dying down only when he held up a hand. Iruka skimmed through the page, and then finally… "Okay, Teams one through six are still in rotation, so we're starting at Team seven."

He took a deep breath. This was gonna be loud.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura-"

"NO!" Ino instantly wailed, and buried her face into her arms.

"CHA! TAKE THAT, PIG!" Sakura was out of her seat in a flash, both fists raised into the air, "True love conquers over all!"

"And Uzumaki Naruto, your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi."

Sakura instantly dropped back in her seat, "What?! No… he didn't even _pass!"_ She hid her face in her hands in anguish. Sure, she got Sasuke-kun, but _Naruto?_ Loud, irritating, tripping over his own sandals Naruto? She'd definitely have to work double hard to keep Sasuke's attention on her.

The Kyuubi's anger bubbled up inside of Naruto, and the boy narrowed his eyes. "I _did_ pass." No yelling, no screaming. Just a white hot denial that was dripping with irritation. "I wouldn't be on the list if I didn't _pass."_

"Wait, wait, hang on," Kiba was suddenly leaning over his desk, "Did he get special treatment or something? He doesn't even have a forehead protector! How's he get to be a ninja if all he did was goof off?!"

Naruto snapped around to face Kiba, "You-"

Iruka untied his forehead protector, "No. This is special treatment." He walked over to Naruto's desk, and placed it in front of Naruto. It snapped against the desk sharply. "Put it on."

The blonde, wide eyed, picked up the forehead protector; it was all nicked and savaged from the previous night's fight, but it still served its purpose. Still, he held it like it was glass… his brother couldn't really just be giving it to him, could he?

As an after thought, Iruka's eyes snapped to Kiba, and then Sakura.

"Inuzuka. Haruno." His voice snapped through the class, "Have either of you been in live combat?"

Haruno said nothing, and ducked her head. Kiba though…

"What the hell? Of _course_ we didn't yet. That's what we're training for, right?"

Iruka's glare settled on him, "I suggest you stop talking if you haven't. The people who are on this list are selected based on the confirmation of the Hokage himself. Everyone is here because they are _proven,_ one way or the other. _Naruto,_ put the forehead protector on."

Something in Iruka's voice made Naruto move a bit faster, and the boy obeyed immediately, only to realize that tying a strap of cloth around one's head with a knot wasn't nearly as easy as he thought it was. "Uh… Hinata-chan, could you…?" He pointed to the back of his head.

"Uhm… y-yes!" She responded a bit _too_ enthusiastically, "But you need to lower your head so… uhm..."

He bowed his head to her, and couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips when her hands played at the cloth, knotting it carefully, but not so carefully that her fingertips didn't brush his scalp.

It felt nice.

When she finished, she gave him a quick tap with two fingers. "I-I'm… uhm..."

Naruto smiled through his blush, and murmured a thanks before turning back to Iruka.

"That one suits you best." Iruka said simply, and returned to his list, "Anyone else have any more grievances? No? Great. Now, team eight: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino, your jounin sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai.

Hinata peered over at Naruto, thoughts of her own team being pushed far back into her own mind. "...You saw real combat?" She murmured, ever the quiet girl, her whispers were just above an exhale… but Naruto seemed to hear her fine.

This time, his smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Oh… it was just some assho-" He winced, "It wasn't… Iruka-sensei needed help, so I helped him, you know? It wasn't nothin' big."

A dubious expression crossed her face, "Wh-what kind of help did he need?"

"Oh ya know… some jerk with a kunai."

"Team 9: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chouji. Your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma." Iruka took a deep breath, and gave the students a wide smile, "This is the beginning of the rest of your careers, and I'm proud of you all!"

Most of the class cheered, and chattered happily to each other. Only a few noticed the way Iruka walked over to Naruto's desk, and leaned down in front of it so he was meeting Naruto eye to eye.

"Hey. Just so we're clear, punk, you deserve to be here more than anyone else. You're proven in combat, so don't you _ever_ let anyone on your team or off your team tell you that you haven't earned this… and tell your friend that if he lets you get killed, I'll kick his ass."

Naruto blushed _hard._ "I told you I was awesome, didn't I?" No yelling, no fussing, he was just sitting there smiling back at his teacher.

Hinata felt like she was interrupting something just by observing.

"Yeah, and you finally proved it." Iruka mussed the boy's hair, "Do your best, Naruto-kun." And just like that the teacher was walking away, the wide smile on his face never vanished on his way out.

"Ahh man, that's embarrasin'..." The boy nervously scratched at the back of his head, "See Hinata? Everything worked out!"

Somehow, she didn't think that was all there was to it, but underneath Naruto's bashful gaze, Hinata nodded meekly. "Okay. W-well… I'm glad you became a ninja. I'm h-happy for you."

The two smiled widely at each other, and just as soon found something else to look at, both of them blushing brightly. The awkward silence threatened to consume them both.

Fortunately, Yuuhi Kurenai saved the two from themselves. "Team 8?"

"Two hotties on one team!? This is the best!" Kiba whooped, and ran out of the room, completely oblivious to the baleful look Kurenai was giving him.

"The _rest_ of team 8, please?" Kurenai snapped, her exquisite temper flared, and her expression turned frigid.

Shino moved as quickly as anyone had ever seen him.

Hinata found herself admiring the black haired stern woman for her confidence in pulling off a dress made of cloth straps, but with curves like those, who wouldn't? She gave a wistful sigh, and finally pushed herself to her feet.

"Uh… bye Naruto-kun. Thank you for the uhm… for the..." Hinata gestured to the bag holding the pastry and then made her way out of the door and walked away…and she silently kicked herself while she did it. 'Not like this Hinata… he gave you a gift, and you're just going to walk away from him? He finally noticed you! He _finally_ sees you! But… but a gift doesn't mean he likes you… _right?'_

She stopped cold.

Hyuuga Hinata gave a wistful sigh in the hallway, and turned to peer back into the room.

He waved at her.

 _She couldn't._ She _couldn't_ go back in there, but she could settle for admiring him from where she stood. ...For now.

"Don't give up, Naruto-kun." She murmured. Hinata bit her bottom lip, turned on her heels, and escaped while she was still standing.

* * *

Sasuke frowned.

At first, he hadn't thought much of his current team. And why would he? Sakura was useless outside of having her nose in a book, and Naruto was useless outside of… well… he was simply useless.

Except not, apparently. Iruka had just implied, _heavily,_ that it was no accident that Naruto was being made a ninja. That he'd seen live combat, and as a result, the hokage had seen fit to call him into the service of Konoha in spite of his performance in the academy. Just like that, his team was _maybe_ not nearly as hopeless as he thought it was.

Two out of three wasn't bad, after all, and now it seemed that he had all the time in the world to grill the deadlast about it. They'd been waiting nearly an hour for their sensei to arrive, and it was taking its toll on Naruto, it seemed. The boy was sitting there staring at the clock, his legs fidgeting as he waited to finally get a move on.

Sakura had finally given up on staring at him, and opted to glare at Naruto, instead.

"Hey, dobe."

Sakura snapped around to look at him. Naruto eventually did the same after giving his shadow a weird sort of smile. It was almost… sympathetic?

So he was still crazy. Great.

"What's up?" Naruto asked in that carefree, calm way that he'd seemed to discover in the past day. He was so glad the dobe wasn't so loud any more. Crazy, but not loud. Was one really better than the other? Ugh.

"What'd you do to graduate?"

" _Cheat."_ Sakura bit out balefully.

Naruto ignored her comment, and instead ran his hand through his hair, "Man, why's everyone askin' about that? Iruka-sensei needed some help and I helped him out, thats all. Nothin' too big, right?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "So it _was_ favoritism."

"...Sure, lets go with that." Naruto laced his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his seat. A smile played on his lips like he was hearing something pleasant. "I never was a very good student."

"So you really did just _cheat?!_ And now we're stuck on a team with you!" Sakura crossed her arms and turned back to Sasuke, "Can you _believe_ this loser?"

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "No… no I really don't."

* * *

 **No boasting? You've earned that right.**

Naruto smiled lightly, and leaned back in his seat. He closed his eyes and felt himself slip backwards, and suddenly he was falling into nothing, a surprisingly comfortable feeling as he collapsed into the lush forest that made up his and Kurama's mindscape. In an instant he was laying back against Kurama's fluffy hide, and the fox shifted lightly to accommodate his added weight before it curled around Naruto.

"Eh… they already think I'm the class dobe, you know? I ain't gonna chase em' around tryin' to convince em of otherwise… they've seen a different me for years. It sucks, but thats how it is."

 **We will not hide ourselves. I will not allow you to be seen as weak.**

A laugh escaped Naruto's voice. "Yeah, no. I just don't wanna sit here and have an argument about what I am and what I ain't. When we get in an actual fight, they'll..." He trailed off.

 **You are worried.**

"I mean… yeah, little bit, yeah." His lips quirked, and Naruto drew his knees up to himself, "I'm gonna end up goin' from the 'dobe' to the 'monster'…"

A bundle of tails descended across the boy's shoulder, and wrapped around him tightly in an odd, but soft and pleasantly warm sort of hug, followed by a rush of affection that buried itself deep inside of Naruto's chest, chasing away a knot of anxiety.

 **Some will respond that way. Some will not. Iruka-sensei did not. I believe that is a start.**

He subconsciously ran his hand along the cool metal plate resting on his forehead.

Naruto snorted, "You still call him Iruka-sensei."

 **I show him the respect you do. Your jounin-sensei is on his way. Go. Be good. Be strong.**

"Shit, really? How long have we been in here?!"

 **Language.** A single tale swung down, and cuffed the back of Naruto's head.

"Ow! Okay okay! Geez!" He swatted the tail away from his head and pushed up to his feet. "Bye, you big mean fox thing." Naruto buried himself into the Kyuubi's side, hugging the fox tightly before willing himself out of the mindscape.

The Kyuubi huffed.

He hugged like the fox would disappear forever if he let go. Kurama couldn't blame him.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and his gaze instantly snapped to the door.

Within moments of the blonde waking up, a silver haired, one eyed man walked through the door. He was as tall as he was late, and didn't really seem to hold his stature like the other jounin. Kakashi stood like he didn't care _,_ slouched and uneven _. Sagging._ He just kind of… _existed._

"Yo. Team Seven?"

"You're _late!"_ Sakura yelled.

Sasuke stared balefully at the jounin.

And Naruto… Naruto stared blearily at Kakashi, and raised a single hand in greeting. How could he be mad at a guy that gave him a chance to hang out with Kurama? "Hi!"

"Well…how can I put this?" Kakashi met each of their eyes with an appraising gaze. "You guys seem... annoying. Meet me on the roof."

Laughter echoed in Naruto's head.

 **Annoying? He has no idea.**

 _Not me though, right?_

 **Of course not you. Hush.**

* * *

"Alright." Their new sensei leaned back against the railing of the roof, "Why don't you all introduce yourselves one at a time. You know, let everyone get to know each other a little better."

There was a dull pause between his students. Sasuke scoffed, and looked off to the side like he had something more important to do. Naruto pursed his lips and instantly looked away the second eye contact was made, as though he was keeping a million secrets. And Sakura… Sakura talked. A lot.

"But we already know each other," Sakura said, "How do you want us to do it? Oh! I know! Can you show us how you would do it?"

Kakashi stared down at the pinkette, deadpan. "You want me to sit here and explain to you how to introduce yourself, and then give you an example?"

She gave a slow, almost sheepish nod.

He turned his gaze over to Naruto. "You, on the left. Introduce yourself like you did in the academy."

Naruto took a deep, _deep_ breath, "I'M-"

"Not _exactly_ like you did in the academy."

The blonde deflated, "Oh thank kami." He said with a relieved sigh before sitting up straight, "Uh..." The boy's ears perked, and briefly, _very_ briefly, he gave a faint smile as he glanced over his shoulder.

Kakashi hadn't noticed it at first, but Naruto's shadow definitely ran longer and darker than normal, and its head tilted _ever_ so slightly like it was listening carefully.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and my friends, but especially Kura-kun. He's the best. Uh… anyway." The blonde took a deep breath, "I don't like people who try to hurt me and mine. I don't really hate em', but I can't stand em right now." He opened his mouth to say something else, but tilted his head again, then grinned like he'd heard a funny joke. "Uh… yeah anyway! My dream is to get strong enough to stop anyone from ever hurtin' my friends again!"

Sasuke scoffed, "What happened to becoming hokage?"

Again, Kakashi found himself curious. What _did_ happen to becoming the hokage? Not that he didn't appreciate the change in Naruto's priorities but…

"That don't seem important now." Naruto winced, a painful memory of an old and powerful hokage rearing its head, "It ain't important. I don't need to be hokage to protect my friends."

 _Interesting._ Kakashi clapped his hands together, catching the attention of the two other genin on the roof. They'd gotten too comfortable staring at Naruto incredulously.

"Do you get it now?" He asked Sakura, and didn't wait for an answer. "Great. Introduce yourself, please."

Sakura looked at Naruto, then back at Kakashim gaping like a fish all the while. "Oh! Uhm! My name is Haruno Sakura and as for what… I mean _who_ I like..." She squeaked like a dying mouse, "And… and my dream? My dream is too…!" This time, she outright _squealed._ "And I hate _crazy_ people, like Naruto!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the girl. Now wasn't the time for discipline, but damn if old ANBU urges weren't rising up again. He paid a quick glance to Naruto to see how the boy was doing… and… well…

Naruto just gave her this sideways glance. Somewhat hurt, but more confused than anything. He tilted his head, once again very likely listening to something the Kyuubi was saying, and then he turned his gaze back to Kakashi, a tiny smile playing on his lips.

Obito he was not.

"And last but not least, you. Go." It came out snappishly, tersely, and he waved at Sasuke dismissively. Sakura's introduction had not left him in the best of moods.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a few things I dislike, and I don't like much any more." He steepled his hands, "All I have is dream… no… I have a goal. I _will_ find and kill a certain man."

"...Yeah, I get that, I guess." Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke's eye twitched, and he glared at Naruto. He was not used to understanding… especially not from the dobe. "What do _you_ know _?"_

"Huh? I'm just sayin' that if I hated someone like you did, I'd probably want em' dead too… I mean, I should, anyway. I don't though."

Both Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto like he'd just eaten a kunai before Sasuke shook it off and glared at Naruto, white hot anger rolling off his body. "How would you know how I _feel?"_

"Uh… _I_ don't know. Kura-k..."

Sasuke was growling his response before Naruto could even finish, "And just _who is kura-kun?"_

Fascinating as the situation was, Kakashi knew a bad situation when he saw one and decided to head it off with a clap of his hands. The genin-to-be snapped to attention, three pairs of eyes locked onto him. "Let's get right to the point. You're not genin yet."

"What?!" Sakura yelled.

"Yeah, what the he-" Naruto stopped short, and his eyes widened like he thought he was going to be punched in the face if he finished his sentence. He decided not to, and leaned back into his seat. "Uh… sorry."

"...That was surprisingly courteous." Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "As I was saying, Out of the genin selected, they're all tested for competence in the battlefield. Your test will be tomorrow, at six, morning. Don't eat breakfast or you'll throw up, got it?"

His three genin nodded.

"Great. Sakura, Sasuke, you guys can leave. I need to talk to Naruto."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "What do you want with _him?"_ Confusion, anger… a little bit of _jealousy?_

The jounin never thought he'd see the day when Sasuke was _jealous_ of someone. He would have to nip that in the bud if they were going to survive, for sure… but for now…

"Uh huh." He stared at Sasuke with all the patience of a man with absolutely nothing better to do besides read porn in public. "Fine, you can stay if you want. Anyway, Naruto, if you really want to pick up girls, you need to be willing to pull it out _any time_ you want to show you meant."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Sakura whipped her head towards Naruto, "Wh-what?! You pervert."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura, then his shadow to which he narrowed his eyes dubiously, and then back at Kakashi, "...Wait, whip what out?"

"This is a waste of my time." The Uchiha outright turned and walked away, hands jammed in his pocket, and a scowl on his lips.

Sakura wasn't far behind him.

"...What just happened?" Naruto said, somewhat nervously. The boy fidgeted in his seat, and stared up at Kakashi. "...Is this about Kura-kun?"

So the kid had some brains, too. That was good.

Kakashi rested his elbows on his knees and nodded, "Your teammates don't know about him."

The boy sagged like a bag deflating balloon. "Nah… I don't… I don't think that would go okay."

"You know you're gonna be fighting alongside them on a regular basis, right?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "You're going to be fighting with them tomorrow _."_

"Yeah..." Naruto rubbed his arm and looked away from Kakashi. "Kura-kun said they might not like me, but if they didn't they'd be sucky friends anyway."

This conversation was getting way too close to parental territory.

"He isn't wrong. …Just take it as experience on the field. Sometimes you'll have to work with people that don't like you, and trust me, its better for stuff like this to come out early on, rather than in a mission." Kakashi leaned forward, "There's no room cowardice here, Naruto. If you fight with the Kyuubi-"

"-Kurama. You call him Kurama." Naruto corrected with a pout.

Kakashi rested his head in his hand, "If you fight with _Kurama,_ then you do so with the team. This is the sort of thing you can't hide, alright?"

"I know, but-"

"Sorry, let me rephrase that. I _won't let you hide it."_

Naruto stared back at Kakashi, and tried not to look too alarmed. He failed. "But Kakashi-sensei-"

"Try not to worry about it," Kakashi sighed, and leaned back in his seat, "Think of it like going to the dentist. One yank, a bit of pain, and then you're either okay or bleeding horribly from the mouth while sobbing uncontrollably."

The blonde Uzumaki felt his eyes rebel, and widen in horror.

"Yeah, see? It'll be fine. Go get some ramen and think about it."

* * *

Naruto got some ramen, but he was trying _really_ hard not to think about it.

Teuchi was behind the counter, preparing for another batch of ramen. All in all, it was a companionable silence, if a bit odd. Naruto had been the sort of kid to come running up to the bar and _outright_ yell at Teuchi to get him some ramen. Now…?

"Been a while since you've been here and not screamin' at me. You alright kid?" For some reason, Teuchi had been watching him like a hawk ever since he'd gotten there.

His gaze snapped to his shadow, and he smiled softly.

"...ya know, you used to do that a lot when you were little." Teuchi mused, leaning back against the cutting table as his gaze went far away.

Naruto was simply thankful for a topic that didn't make his stomach squeeze into a knot. Too much.

He looked up at Teuchi, and found himself splitting his attention between his ramen and the old man. Occasionally taking huge bites of his ramen, but nowhere near the horrifying vacuum cleaner of devouring that he used to be.

"The way you look back at nothing. You used to do that all the time, like someone was whisperin' in your ear.." He smirked. "That's the thing in your stomach, right?"

Naruto froze. He stopped chewing and his eyes went wide. His stomach squeezed into a horrible knot.

"So its actually talkin' to you?" Teuchi laughed, an oddly soft sound, "Kid, you gotta learn to hide your hide your emotions better. Anyway, that don't matter to me." He planted the knife into the cutting board, "...So it just started talkin' to you again or somethin'?"

 _That_ got a wide smile out of Naruto. "Yeah! We get talk to each other again! It's great because he used to take real good care of me when I was little, and… and when we weren't talking I wasn't really myself b-but he ain't at all like people said and I… uh..." A thought struck the boy like lightning. "You ain't scared?"

All he got was another laugh from Teuchi. "Heh. _You_ ain't scared, so I'm not worried."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. Wanna do some more work with the chain tomorrow?"

Naruto, excited, eagerly nodded his head and started to practically bounce in his seat. Teuchi grinned back, and the Kyuubi released a short, barking laugh.

 **That is two friends now, Little one.**


	7. Chapter 7

Sasuke was staring again. Sasuke was staring, and really, it was all Kakashi-sensei's fault. Well… it kind of all lead back to Kura-kun, really, but that was moot because the alternative was _not_ having Kura-kun.

 **And that would not be enjoyable for either of us.**

Naruto found himself nervous. He was frantic, he didn't _want_ to go from being seen as crazy to being seen as a monster. If he _really_ had to choose between being seen as crazy or being seen as a monster, he'd have taken crazy every time.

It wasn't a great feeling.

 **Only the weak and dull of mind will see you that way.**

And just like that, the anxiety melted away, and he felt the calm wash over him. Naruto took a deep breath, and on exhale leaned back against the tree.

 _Thanks Kura-kun._

"What are you smiling at, dobe?" Sasuke was _still_ staring.

Naruto shrugged, "Nothin'. I'm just real happy all the time! What're you frowning at all the time, teme?"

"What were you and Kakashi-sensei talking about yesterday?" Sasuke snapped like an angry whip, his eyes narrowed and his gaze turned glare, "Why are you _so_ important that he wants to talk to you but not _me_?"

 **Jealousy and unfettered rage. Adorable.**

The blonde's smile finally died on his lips, and his easygoing stare stayed on the sky. "Maybe he's just worried that I'm crazy. Told me not to be so crazy. You know how it is, right?"

 _He wished that Kakashi just thought he was crazy._

Dismissing Naruto as just _crazy_ was getting harder and harder for Sasuke. First Iruka-sensei acknowledged Uzumaki in front of _everyone,_ and then Kakashi-sensei did as well. And just now seeing the misery on the boy's face when he called himself crazy… Something was wrong. Sasuke bit back an insult, and just sat down at the tree, not another word said.

For once, the silence between the two boys was companionable… or at the very least, not so hostile.

 **You are worried. You worry** _ **so much.**_ **I am sorry.**

A soft smile crossed Naruto's lips, and he closed his eyes.

"Sasuke-kun! Don't sit next to crazy, come sit next to me!"

His eyes popped open, and Naruto slumped a bit more in his position. Right, they had a third member on their team, and she was very, very loud.

 **She's bothering me. May I make her stop?**

Naruto scoffed but shook his head, it wasn't like the Kyuubi wouldn't get its chance to shut everyone up. Annnd that horrible squeezing feeling in his stomach came back. This was gonna end so _so_ badly. "Hey, maybe Kakashi-sensei decided not to show up? Maybe we can just go home?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Doubt it, dobe."

"Shut up, crazy! Of course he'll be here!" Sakura rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, of course I'll be here."

The blood drained from Naruto's face.

Kakashi walked out from behind the very tree that Naruto leaned back on, seeming for _all the world_ like he'd been there the entire time. He might have been, Naruto didn't check, and the Kyuubi didn't check so...

"Are you all ready for your test?" Kakashi asked while he stared directly at Naruto, "Naruto? Are you okay? You seem a bit nervous."

Sasuke kept glancing back and forth between Naruto and Kakashi. Why did Naruto look like the shinigami had just come to end him? What was he _missing_ here?

"Yeah… uh… Yeah I'm ready." He really, really wasn't. Naruto pushed himself to his feet, idly dusting off his pants with his hands.

"Glad to hear it." Kakashi turned his serene gaze to Sakura and Sasuke, "You all _didn't_ eat breakfast, right?"

"No sensei!" Sakura chirped.

"No, sensei." Sasuke murmured.

"Uh..." Naruto made sure to look everywhere _but_ at Kakashi, "Nooo?"

Kakashi stared at him flatly.

"Ugh, yes! I ate breakfast, okay? Kur- uh… breakfast is an important meal of the day and I just couldn't leave without eating something!" He shot a dirty look at his shadow, "Kakashi sensei, I could _not_ leave unless I ate."

 **Breakfast is very important.**

 _I know but he said…!_

 **He says a lot. I am more trustworthy.**

 _Of course you are, but I wanted to make a good impression!_

 **A good impression at the detriment of yourself. Unacceptable.**

 _...Why are you always right?_

The Kyuubi preened under that praise, and Naruto could feel the fox puff its chest out in silent pride.

 **It is simply my way. I will teach you one day.**

"Kakashi-sensei, do we HAVE to stay on a team with him? He's crazy and he _talks_ to himself all the time." Sakura pouted and rubbed her arm nervously, "He's gonna get Sasuke-kun killed out there! He's not even listening to us!"

Naruto frowned. He felt the Kyuubi sneer and bare its teeth.

 **Ah, she likes to do harm with words. I enjoy doing harm with my maw as well.**

Naruto frowned even more.

 **I will only gnaw on her a little bit.**

The silver haired jounin stared down at Sakura with a quiet grin on his face. His gaze shifted from Sakura to Sasuke, and finally to Naruto. Slow and deliberate, he took in Sakura's hopeful smile, Sasuke's angry frown, and Naruto's pleading stare.

He walked over to a nearby stump and sat down on it. Next to it sat a single alarm clock. "You have thirty minutes to complete your task… the task, of course, is to defeat me and to take _these..."_ He fished a set of bells out of his kunai holster, and held them up with two fingers. "The first two genin that do will stay ninja, the remaining genin will return to the academy."

"What!? But… you can't _do_ that!" The words were out of Sakura's lips before she could stop herself, "We spent years in the academy!"

Sasuke scowled.

"And you'll spend a few more if you don't pass my test," Kakashi narrowed his eye, "Come at me like you want to kill me, or you won't survive at all-"

Sasuke flashed into action, his kunai out and his body blurring through the air. He was the fastest genin in his graduating class, but Kakashi was much, much faster. Before the genin-to-be knew what happened, one hand was on the back of his head, and his arm was twisted behind his back, and his face was being forced into the dirt.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura took a step forward, but froze when Kakashi raised a single eyebrow at her.

"Points for enthusiasm," The scarecrow muttered, "But you're about twenty years early to try and catch me off guard. You've got the right idea thought. Oh, and Sakura? If a superior enemy has a hostage, you don't approach dead on. It's disrespectful." He released the genin and stood to his full height. "Now… let's begin."

Sasuke pushed to his feet and leapt away to hide, and Sakura dashed off in an opposite direction.

Naruto simply stood there, his fists clenched, "Kakashi-sensei, c'mon… you can't really mean that right? I mean… I don't wanna try to kill you… I _can't_ … man, this is messed up." He could already feel the Kyuubi's eagerness boiling under his skin. A warning. A threat. Both directed in Kakashi's direction. He frantically ran his hands through his hair, trying to clear his head.

 **Little One… we must fight. We will fight.** _ **We will not hide**_ **.**

"I _know_ that." He sagged underneath the Kyuubi's hushed, nudging tone. It wanted to fight. It wanted Naruto to want to fight. "I just don't wanna hurt him. I ain't gonna try to kill him for no reason."

"I'm not worried." Kakashi didn't dare sit or pull out his book. "This is how it is, Naruto-kun." He put his hands in his pockets, "With a team like this… there's no room for secrets and half measures."

Naruto didn't move. The boy crossed his arms and stared dead on at Kakashi, his eyes narrowed and angry and stubborn. "You can't make me."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Of course I can. Did you know I was the student of the fourth Hokage?"

Shaking his head, Naruto stood fast.

"No? Well here's a funny thing. So my sensei was the first one who dealt with Kura-kun. Now let's be serious for a second. Do you really think I'm not in the position to put him away if I think I have to?"

"Wh-what?" Naruto took a step back, and his eyes shot wide as the weight of Kakashi's words bore down on him. To lose Kurama again over a test… "I… I won't let you." He hissed the words out under his breath, "I won't let you hurt him like they did before."

"Then choose. Fight for your friend's life or lose him. Again." He watched Naruto's fists clench tight, and those bright blue eyes pull into foxlike irises.

 **We will not let him. We will break him.**

Naruto gave a short nod. A growl filled the air, low and warning and angry, sounding from everywhere and nowhere. The atmosphere grew heavy with the combined killing intent of a scared boy and a vicious fox focused solely on removing the only threat in that clearing. Naruto could feel the Kyuubi's barely containted rage at the man: For threatening his freedom, for scaring his little one.

"Good choice. Now, first lesson. Taijutsu." The silver haired teacher began walking forward, "So, show me what you and Kura-kun… can..."

His statement slowly died on his lips as he watched Naruto's shadow simply began… walking away. It began circling around him, stalking freely. It was unnatural. Bizarre in a way that made Kakashi shudder… the way that thing stalked around him reminded him of his dogs when they tried to flank an enemy. Pack tactics. A boy and his fox.

"Well… that's new."

The shadow ran long, as though it were standing against the sun. It ran long and stretched until it shaped something else entirely. And then the Kyuubi, pitch black like the void and blue eyed like the sky, maw open revealing its many many teeth the size of kunais clambered out of the shadow and stood behind Kakashi, nine tails flagging wickedly behind it. It was a nightmare come to the training grounds, and it wore the Yondaime's eyes.

 **Let us begin.**

The Kyuubi leapt at Kakashi, claws outstretched, and Naruto moved in concert.

Sasuke watched with wide, bewildered eyes as Naruto proceeded to defy every expectation he held of the boy. He was supposed to be loud. Weak. _Crazy._ More than anything, Kura-kun was _not_ supposed be a demon, Kura-kun was not supposed to be able to speak, and Kura-kun was _not_ supposed to exist!

And then there was that _chakra_ that he was using…

It was vicious. It was unlike anything Kakashi had ever seen before. When the Kyuubi leapt towards Kakashi, he dove out of the way, immediately spotting that even its chakra seemed like it was lashing out against him in wild, angry spikes. Even being close to the Kyuubi meant charred flesh and broken bones.

 **Taijutsu is a good lesson. We will learn it well.**

We? Oh right, Naruto.

The boy had already been moving the second the Kyuubi had moved, and when Kakashi had touched down, Naruto swung a clawed hand at Kakashi.

He dodged the attack masterfully, effortlessly. For someone so supposedly dangerous, he'd expected far more from the…

A wild, uncontrolled torrent of chakra in the shape of a bestial claw formed out of the air and drove down at Kakashi, following the boy's movements in spastic bursts. He avoided the attack with a few quick steps to the side. "You know, if you were faster you might have caught me with that. Pretty nasty wo-"

The Kyuubi was behind him, mid swing of those massive tails, trying to drop them on him like a gargantuan club. Kurama, he noted, was _very_ good at not announcing its attacks. The fox offered no tells or warnings, it was simply opportunistic as hell even when refusing to use anything but physical attacks.

The way it fought was a far cry from how it attacked Konoha that day. But then, Kakashi mused mid dodge, that if he were as tall as the sky, he would fight differently too.

"That was close. You two fight pretty well together."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, and for the briefest moment, he caught white hot anger burning behind that relatively innocent face. ...Maybe the threat against Naruto's only friend had been a bit much? The kid took a few running steps forward and then planted his leading foot like he were going to throw a ball.

A pitch black ball of chakra tore out the air next to him, and ripped through the air so fast that by the time he'd thought to dodge, it was shearing away at flesh and cloth alike. The manifestation instantly broke apart upon impact, melting into nothing and dissipating into the air… only the acrid scent of virulient chakra remained from the attack.

 **We need to work on your control and aim, little one.**

In quick succession, the Kyuubi thrashed in from behind Kakashi, spinning and rolling and clawing madly, there was no attempt at subtly here. In Naruto's mind it was a flash of red murder that briefly seared his vision. It crashed its tails into his midsection _hard,_ just as Kakashi was sent careening, two claws tore through the man and bent him in at a harsh right angle before he vanished in a plume of smoke.

The Kyuubi stared at the point of impact, a cracked, smoldering crater that was pockmarked by angry, red claw like scars.

 **A clone.** It snorted. **Ninja. They move too much for my tastes.**

Naruto gave a relieved sigh, "I thought we killed him. I mean, I woulda felt bad for him but… he shouldn'ta said that, Kura-kun. I won't let him do that to you."

His words got him a warm feeling that welled up in his chest that reminded him of a hug.

 **We have work to do, little one.**

"Yeah? Lets try not to wreck him this time, huh?" The two shared a laugh until the kyuubi began nudging the boy repeatedly, "Okay, okay! Let's go!"

Wordlessly, the two made their way towards the tree line.

 **Hunting. How** _ **fun.**_

Kakashi watched as the two walked off from his position from high in the tree line, his eyes narrowed, ' _Already that strong, and way more loyal to the fox than he is to the village? Huh. Okay. So maybe he's a little bit of a risk.'_

Sakura's eyes went wide and horrified at the sight of Naruto fighting alongside Kura-kun. The imaginary friend. "Its… its _real?_ How is _that_ real?!" She clutched the ground underneath her hands a bit too tightly as the panic set in. She was shaking. Her breath was quickening but she couldn't breathe as reality slammed into her like a kunai to the forehead.

"N-nine tails. Nine tails..." Naruto had the nine tails. She didn't know how, she didn't know _why,_ but she was instantly scrambling back and away from under tree brush in the hopes of getting away from that monster.

From _both of those monsters._

Before she could think to get up and stand and run because the two of them turned and started walking _straight for her and she couldn't quite get to her feet._ And what shocked her more than anything was the way the two walked in sync. Sometimes, the fox's ear would twitch and Naruto would look in the direction the fox's ear twitched, or Naruto would sniff the air and the Kyuubi would scan the horizon like it was checking what the idiot was smelling.

They couldn't really be _that_ close, could they? That level of relationship was the sort of thing that was almost… it was _wrong._

The monsters were closer now.

 **Up.**

"Huh? Think so?"

 **As prey, up is ideal.** The Kyuubi paused, and sniffed the air. **Fear. Confusion. The annoying one is here.**

The monsters were here. The monsters were here and the monsters were _rude._

"Oh, you mean Sakura-chan?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Naruto knew it was talking about her just by it calling her _annoying?_ Sakura _almost_ yelled, but then Naruto dropped to his haunches and spotted her instantly.

"Hey Sakura-chan, me and Kura-kun are goin to hunt-"

All she saw were bright blue eyes that were more fox than human. All she saw was that enormous fox that stood over him like a murderous shroud, smiling. She yelped. All she could remember doing was throwing her hands up and trying to push him away and scampering away from him the second she caught sight of those eyes. Sakura could the edge of her vision dimming, but all she could think about was getting away.

She tried to tell Naruto to stay away. She tried to beg the Kyuubi not to claw her to bits.

She screamed until she ran out of breath and passed out.

Sasuke's fists clenched tightly at the piercing sound of Sakura's screams… she was no doubt already taken down by Kakashi, and the forest was pitch silent again. Unnerving, considering he was sharing the forest with a Jounin that was trying to kill him and a teammate with a demon.

"Yo. You seem pretty at ease for someone being hunted."

He leapt out of the forest and into the clearing, the Uchiha wasn't used to fighting in and out of trees… out in the open, though? Sasuke landed roughly on his feet, and came to a skidding halt as he turned to face his attacker.

Kakashi, hands jammed in his pockets, walked out after Sasuke.

"Well, you're not passed out and screaming, so at least you're doing better than Sakura-chan."

"I'm _different_ from Sakura." He narrowed his eyes.

Kakashi smirked. "Oh yeah? Want to show me what you've got, then?"

Without another word, and for the second time that day, Sasuke dashed at Kakashi, shuriken already flying from his fingertips. He would defeat Kakashi, take the bell, and become a ninja. He would _destroy_ Itachi.

He was _Uchiha._

And he, as a Uchiha, watched as Kakashi effortlessly caught the shuriken between his fingers and casually examined them, "Not a bad throw. You missed th-"

Before he could finish, Sasuke had crossed the distance between them, and thrown his foot around in a vicious roundhouse. Kakashi effortlessly caught his leg, only for his eye to widen when Sasuke spun out of his grip, his other leg outstretched and aimed right at his head.

Sasuke tried not to be too pleased at the shock on his sensei's face.

Kakashi _would_ acknowledge him.

The Kyuubi's ears twitched. Naruto turned his head to look in the direction of Sasuke and Kakashi. "They're really goin' at it, you can hear em from here." He briefly glanced back at the unconscious girl on his back, and frowned.

 **You are not a monster.**

"She screamed when she looked at me."

 **She screamed when she looked at** _ **me.**_

The boy huffed, and set Sakura down near the alarm clock. She settled with a groan and shifted when her body touched the ground, and she grimaced as she was beset on by nightmares. Eventually, she settled.

"That's kind of the same thing, isn't it?"

The Kyuubi snorted, and swiped its tail across Naruto's hair. **Clever.** It sank into Naruto's shadow halfway, just far enough that its eyes and ears poked out from it. **She still makes your heart run fast.**

Naruto rubbed his other arm and gave a forced smile. "She's real pretty, thats all." With one last glance to Sakura, he turned away and started walking towards the sounds of combat.

 **I notice you do not think as much when she is talking.**

"She's _loud."_

 **You're loud.**

"She's a different kind of loud. You know what I mean, right? _"_

And the Kyuubi did. It hummed lightly in response, and kept rooting around in the boy's memories. It did so instinctually, which was easy enough when one shared brainspace with another. She was the kind of loud that Sasuke was quiet. The mean-spirited sort. But she was pretty and that tended to make up for a lot in the mind of a pubescent boy.

 **She is a different kind of loud.** It agreed.

"Told you." Naruto puffed his chest out proudly.

 **You would do well to continue to consider what you find pleasing about her.**

Instantly, the boy deflated. "Eh? Whats the big deal? I just like 'er, you know?"

 **It is important to understand yourself and know where your susceptibilities and proclivities lay.** The Kyuubi waited for Naruto to understand the more complicated words. **Know where you are weak, and then you may become strong.**

"But how is liking someone makin' me weak?"

The two walked in silence for a moment, thoughts flitting back and forth between the two, before the fox finally turned its gaze on Naruto again.

 **You are yet young. I will explain later. Would you like to borrow a tail?**

"Wait, what do you-" His eyes widened, and his gaze snapped to the Kyuubi. Naruto smiled so wide that all his teeth were exposed and his eyes were forced shut. "Of course I want to borrow a tail!"

Sasuke spat fire at Kakashi. A wild torrent of flames ripped through the air and tore through Kakashi with all the practiced ease of someone who'd practiced that jutsu hundreds of times. This time, he didn't bother hiding his glee as Kakashi was englufed in fire. Defeating a jounin would _definitely_ bring closer to reaching his ambition… to killing his brother.

Except when the world stopped burning and the smoke cleared, Sasuke found no remains of his sensei's body, and instead felt a distinct sense of horror welling up inside of him.

All that was left was a charred log, shattered and brittle and blackened.

"Impressive, knowing _that_ jutsu when you're so young."

 _Behind him._

"Not bad, so far. I'd say you're just a little bit ahead of Sakura. Keep it up and you might impress me."

Sasuke moved, whipping his body around in a vicious roundhouse kick. If Kakashi hadnt been a jounin, he might have been caught of guard.

He wasn't. Kakashi easily caught Sasuke's foot with one hand, and swung down with a kunai in a furious arc.

Sasuke _swore_ that he could see arcs in the wind from the sheer strength of that swing. Regardless, he yanked a kunai out of his pouch and blocked the swing. The kunai clashed between them, and Sasuke's was easily knocked out of the way.

"Huh, you're pretty quick. Not bad." The jounin let Sasuke's arm go, and the Uchiha stumbled backwards.

Sasuke scowled deeply. To put everything into this fight and have his jounin instructor patronize him? _Not bad._ Sasuke snarled and grit his teeth, "I'll show you _not bad."_ His fingers began dancing as he started a series of handseals, blindingly fast.

He blinked.

Kakashi was gone.

"Wh-"

"For a Uchiha, you sure lose track of your opponent a lot."

 _Behind?_ Sasuke snapped around, "No… beneath!?"

A hand broke the surface of the ground, and grasped Sasuke's ankle.

And right then, just as Kakashi were going to pull Sasuke in, the air grew acrid and stuck, and the scent of the area became tinged with copper. The sudden change and hesitation gave Sasuke enough time to leap away from Kakashi's hand.

"Hmph… so you're not as fast as you think, huh?"

The sheer amount of killing intent directed at him clawed into the back of his mind, Kakashi's senses were screaming at him, and his body was moving before the attack ever came. He leapt out of the ground, and dove off to the side. And the attack _did_ come.

Kakashi didn't have the heart to tell Sasuke that a _legitimate_ threat had arrived.

He landed easily on his feet in time to watch eight arcing pitch black tails sailing against the sky, midnight chemtrails burned their way along until, abruptly, they dove down at Kakashi, impaling the ground where he once stood in thick thundering cracks that left the earth charred and sundered.

Sasuke found himself frozen as the chakra tails tore into the area just in front of them. He didn't know which was more unnerving, that Naruto was the one behind the destruction… or that Kakashi had effortlessly avoided it.

In the scorched wake of the attack, Naruto stood, a cloak of blackened chakra hung off of his body and sloughed off in slow, lazy dollops. His blue eyes _burned,_ and his mouth pulled into a smile made vicious by sharpened teeth.

"...Dobe?" Sasuke failed to keep the alarm out of his voice as he glanced over at the dead last. "What are you…?"

 **He does not like to be called dobe.**

The shroud of chakra snapped at Sasuke. _Was his chakra growling?_ Not just growling, it was _boiling. Furious. O_ ne of the Kyuubi's tails curled and poised high like a scorpion's, threatening and daring Kakashi to attack from the front. Killer intent hung from the boy's frame like a cloak and and while it wasn't _quite_ up to the standards of Itachi…

It was close.

"Sorry Sasuke."

His voice snapped the Uchiha out of his brief reverie, and he found himself staring at _Naruto_ , who's gaze never left Kakashi's face.

"Can't talk now, gotta get those bells."

Naruto erupted from where he stood so hard that Sasuke's hair was blown back into his face. For the first time in his life, he was left staring at the dobe's… Naruto's back. And for the third time in his life, first with Itachi, then with Kakashi… he felt out of his depth.

Sasuke grit his teeth and clutched his fists, watching as Naruto ignited into midnight fire.

Upon accepting the team with Uzumaki Naruto on it, Hatake Kakashi expected an idiot child that'd spent his time at the academy goofing off and not taking anything seriously. Lovestruck and loud, obnoxious and oblivious.

He expected Obito.

He did not expect to be confronted with a blonde blur of violence and black chakra that had just set upon him like a whirlwind; the boy's fists shot out in a flurry, followed by angry, lazy swipes of the black chakra that he wore as a cloak.

Kakashi blocked each fist easily, shifting his forearms and swiping them away from his center with little effort.

"Sloppy." He muttered, only to have to duck the two mad chakra claws that moved independent of Naruto as they tried to cleave his torso from his hips.

Naruto had gotten faster, but certainly not faster than the man taught by the yellow flash. The chakra claws, on the other hand ripped out from his cloak and tore at him like a hoard of mad piranhas. Piranha's that corroded flesh and melted bone if they got a hold of you.

He'd have to talk to Naruto about restraint.

The silver haired jounin took a few steps back from Naruto, "Sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't tell you that we weren't doing taijutsu lessons any more. Tell me, what do you know about ninjutsu?"

The chakra shroud growled. Naruto bit his bottom lip, and froze under his sensei's gaze. "Uh… I never really… uhm… figured out handseals."

"Ah." Tragic as it was, it was clear Naruto wouldn't be the one to need extra help, which meant less work for Kakashi. He brushed off the comment, "Then let's move on to genju-"

 **A music lesson in instead.**

Oh right, the Kyuubi.

 **He is the conductor. I am the ORCHESTRA.**

The giant fox, now wielding eight tails, crashed down in front of Kakashi between Naruto with all the grace of a fox the size of a few trees. Naruto walked to the Kyuubi's side, and bore his cloak's claws along with his own.

They still wore the same eyes. Maybe a similarly murderous smile.

"Ahh, I really do always forget that there are two of you." Kakashi scratched the back of his head and grinned behind his mask, "Is Naruto borrowing one of your tails?"

 **Shhh, now is not the time for talk, let us hear you** ** _sing_** **.**

And then the Kyuubi was charging, its tails pointed directly at Kakashi with dire purpose. Naruto was charging with two condensed balls of viscous chakra in his hands. The same condensed chakra balls that'd ripped his clone's face off from a distance.

He'd _really_ have to talk to Naruto about restraint.

The two were rushing Kakashi down in tandem, and Kakashi… Kakashi simply stood there, one hand reaching for the headband covering his eye.

The Kyuubi raised its horrifying claws, poised to slice him open. Naruto was dashing in low, probably prepping to try to blow his legs off as soon as he dodged.

Kakashi _almost_ felt a little proud.

"Annnnnd..."

The alarm began shrieking.

The Kyuubi came to a skidding, graceful stop just in front of Kakashi. It lowered its paw, and cast a baleful sidelong glance at Kakashi before watching Naruto go stumbling past. As it turned out, the little one wasn't so good at moving that fast, and was sent tumbling head over heels as he tried to stop.

"Ahhhh!"

The Kyuubi's tail swept around the boy's midsection, stopping him midair just before he'd face planted into Kakashi's foot.

"Thanks Kura-kun!"

 **You are welcome.**

Kakashi yawned.

"Time's up."

"Well, that was disappointing." Kakashi leaned against a tree, his arms folded neatly, "You three were one of the most anticipated teams for this rotation, and instead what I get is..."

His gaze shifted from Sakura, who stared at Naruto like he was going to bite her. Sasuke, who sat on a stump across from him with a dark look in his eyes, And Naruto, who simply sat there leaned back against the Kyuubi that had curled around him the second the boy had sat down. It barely seemed willing to pay Kakashi a glance.

Sakura looked like she was going to cry.

"A scared child who doesn't know how to fight under pressure, an avenger who thought doing good in school meant he was ready for the big leagues, and a… well… I don't want to say you did _good_ Naruto. I'll just say you _tried._ You moved Sakura to a relatively safe place at least… not much for teamwork with anyone that isn't Kurama, though.

Naruto preened and puffed his chest out. The Kyuubi snorted, and nudged at Naruto's chest until he broke out into a small laugh.

 **You did well.** The fox mumbled, completely disregarding Kakashi outright, and to Kakashi's chagrin, Naruto smiled widely in return and ran a hand through the Kyuubi's caustic fur.

"I can't do this."

It was barely a whisper, but Naruto's gaze instantly found Sakura's.

"Kakashi-sensei, I can't be on the team with the Kyu-" She froze at sudden and dangerous expression that had crossed the Kyuubi's face: The narrowed eyes and razor teeth all addressed her with a quiet, dangerous sneer.

"Uh..." Naruto found himself interrupting, "Kura-kun _really_ hates to be called that. Just call em' Kurama."

The pinkette shuddered.

"Kakashi-sensei, the Ky-kurama killed a _lot_ of people. You can't just put Sasuke-kun and me in danger like this!"

" _Don't_ bring me into this," Sasuke hissed, the words came out angry, baleful, "I am _not_ afraid."

Naruto's eyes widened.

The Kyuubi released a short, sneering snort before going back to snuggling into Naruto's chest. The fox knew it couldn't kill the hurt in Naruto, but it could still hug the boy so tightly that it would muffle the pain.

"Sakura." Kakashi bit the words out, "Walk with me. You two don't move, you are _not_ dismissed."

The pinkette stood up and walked away alongside Kakashi, nervously rubbing her opposing arm as she stole one last look at Naruto.

"Heh…" Naruto frowned, and gave the Kyuubi a squeeze, "I always wanted her to look me, but now..."

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry I..."

He took a deep breath. "Just a little bit further."

The aspiring genin fell silent, and said nothing until Kakashi finally came to a stop before a enormous pillar of stone. Easily as tall as Kakashi, and twice as wide. Names upon names were scrawled into the stone in carefully and masterfully written kanji. It was a beautiful as it was dire.

"If we do our jobs right, this'll be all we ever leave behind."

She bit her bottom lip, and opted to stare at her feet instead. "Kakashi-sensei..."

"You can formally request to be placed on another team, you know." He ran a hand along the memorial stone, and stopped at Obito's name. "As long as you ask me with the hokage as witness, you can make that happen."

Her eyes widened. Could it have really been that easy though? Simply putting in a request and walking away from her nightmare of a team?

"I have a question for you though."

Her gaze snapped to him.

"Is your goal as a ninja to become strong? Or do you just want to impress Sasuke? Do you have a goal?"

 _Did_ she have a goal? She'd joined the academy to become a ninja, but beyond that? It'd been all about Sasuke and bookwork… as long as she was good at those, she'd been fine. But what about an actual fight? Was she _really_ that useless?

"I… don't know." Sakura admitted, slowly, carefully, as though the words themselves would turn on her if she spoke too quickly.

Kakashi smirked slightly, "If you want to become strong, this team will be the strongest, and you will have to become better to keep up. If you want to impress Sasuke..." He turned his gaze on her, "Then you should stop being a ninja. If you aren't motivated for yourself, then you won't survive. I'd sooner see you at home rather than on this stone. And as for Naruto..."

Sakura winced.

"I know the Kyuubi is scary, but as it stands now, you'll face scarier things that are _actually_ trying to kill you. Do you think Naruto would ever hurt you?"

"I mean… not at first." She nervously grabbed onto her arms and held on for dear life. "But you didn't see him! He… they move like they're thinking the same thoughts, and if they are..."

"...You should relax. As far as I can tell, the Kyuubi only tries to hurt people that Naruto wants to hurt. That boy's got the biggest heart I'd ever seen. so try not to worry about the giant demon that follows his whims. There's no way that will go badly for you." A quick pat to Sakura's back, and Kakashi began walking off, "I believe we have a meeting to finish."

Sakura cringed hard at Kakashi's assessment, and fell into step behind him.

"Uhm… yes, sensei."

"That's the spirit."

The Kyuubi breathed deeply, his eyes lagged closed in a slow and lazy blinks. It'd been a long time since it'd been free, but it'd been much, much longer since it felt the wind on it's back. Everything would have been perfect, if the Kyuubi didn't feel eyes on the back of it's head. Well… on Naruto's head.

There were few things that could ruin a moment like this. Loud children. The masked man showing up again. Impetuous younglings that were staring at Naruto like he owed them money.

 **You're staring, whelp.**

Sasuke flinched back, and desperately tried to find something else to look at.

The Kyuubi tilted its head and scoffed.

"Hey, hey Sasuke. Did you mean it?" Naruto just as quickly and _eagerly_ picked up the conversation, "You're really not afraid of us?"

 **He is not afraid of** ** _you,_** The Kyuubi watched Sasuke intently, **He does not know better.**

Sasuke narrowed his black eyes, snapping his gaze to Naruto. " _What?_ What do you mean?"

There was a brief moment where the Kyuubi turned to look Naruto in the eyes, and Naruto stared back. Then, the boy groaned and rolled his eyes and slumped back into the fox's midnight fur, huffing childishly.

The Kyuubi snorted, a quick exhale of breath.

 **The little one does not want me to say. So I will not. Do not stare, lest I decide to stare back. With my teeth.**

"You don't look with your teeth." Naruto huffed, arms crossed.

 **Not when I look at you, I don't.**

The fox _leered_ at Sasuke, flashing its bright white teeth in vicious warning. Naruto rolled his eyes and instead took the fox's head in hands and began dragging his fingers behind the Kyuubi's ears.

"Seriously, Kura-kun ain't nothin to be afraid of. He's great!" Naruto smiled wide at Sasuke.

Sasuke stared at Naruto, then the fox. Finally, he exhaled, and slumped backwards onto his butt. That look in Naruto's eyes was so painfully familiar that he had to look away. It reminded him of how he looked up to Itachi or his father… and worse, the Kyuubi seemed _equally_ enamored with Naruto, to the point where it was happy being nicknamed. Sasuke didn't really know what to say to that… so he just leaned back on his arms and mumbled.

"Yeah… right."

"Hey..."

The Uchiha bristled. " _What?"_

"Do you think we passed?"

Sasuke huffed and looked away again. "How should I know?"

Kakashi took a step forward into the clearing, and the Kyuubi's eyes instantly snapped open and locked on to the jounin. Naruto instead turned his gaze to the pinkette standing just behind Kakashi.

The sight of twin blue eyes made her shudder.

"Hey Sakura! You uh… you feeling okay now? I'm real sorry for scaring you, ya know." Naruto tried to offer a smile.

Sakura moved directly behind Kakashi, out of the way of Naruto's questioning gaze, and especially out of the line of sight of the Kyuubi's narrow eyed glare.

 **Little one,** Kurama drawled, drawing the boy closer into its protective grasp.

Sasuke scoffed.

"Well, lets get to the point." Kakashi clapped his hands once, "You should know that you guys definitely passed, but only because I would never have been allowed to fail you." He ran a hand through his hair, "So this was more of an…. evaluation."

Sakura instantly found her gaze sinking into the ground. This would be the first test she'd ever failed.

"Naruto."

Eagerly, Naruto sat up, his back straight.

"For someone who never learned handseals, you well. You can fight." If Naruto had tails, they'd have been wagging in excitement. Kakashi had to settle for the pleased gleam in the Kyuubi's eye. "But you're all power and no finesse right now… I think, however, finesse can be taught. Extra credit points for making sure your team mate was moved to a safe place before chasing after me. All in all? Not bad."

"W-wait, really?! Yeah!" Excitement burst out of the boy like a geyser, and he eagerly hugged the Kyuubi's head, "Hey, you hear that? We did okay!"

The Kyuubi playfully swatted the boy on head.

 **Yes. We did okay.** Despite the Kyuubi's droll tone, its tails wagged and flagged in the air.

Kakashi sighed, exasperated. Dealing with the Kyuubi no Kitsune _and_ Uzumaki Naruto as a package would be more than a handful. They would be a terror once he got Naruto up to speed. He turned to Sasuke.

"Disappointing. For someone with so much talent, you don't know how to fight with comrades."

The Uchiha scoffed.

"That's alright." Kakashi smirked, "You'll learn to work with a team, or you won't last long with me. That goes for all of you." He turned to look at Naruto, Sasuke, and then Sakura, "Whether or not you are afraid or in love, or you hate your teammates, or you don't care. You will learn to work with them or the ninja world will eat you alive."

Their jounin sensei took a long, deep breath.

"Normally, you need at least 20 D rank missions in order to move on to the good stuff… but looking at the people on this team, I'm telling you that won't happen. We're probably gonna get thrown into the deep end, so you'll have to learn to swim fast. Welcome to team 7, kids."


End file.
